Graphene-Based Helical Micromotors Constructed by “Microscale Liquid Rope-Coil Effect” with Microfluidics

Nature provides diverse inspirations for constructing mobile and functionalized micromachines. For example, artificial helical micro-/nanomotors inspired by bacteria flagella that can be precisely steered for various applications have been constructed by utilizing materials with excellent functions. Graphene-based materials show outstanding properties, and, to date, have not been considered to construct helical micromotors and investigate their potential applications. Here, we propose an interesting "microscale liquid rope-coil effect" strategy to stably and simply fabricate graphene oxide-based helical micromotors (GOFHMs) with high throughput by the capillary microfluidics technique. A range of desirable GOFHMs with different pitch, length, and linear diameter are tailored by smart parameter setting in microfluidic system (flow velocity, concentration, and so on). Afterward, graphene-based helical micromotors (GFHMs) are easily acquired by the reduction of GOFHMs and further drying. Actuated by rotating magnetic field, GFHMs show capability to conduct programmed locomotion in a microchannel. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, GFHMs and Ag modified GFHMs have been successfully applied to water remediation, which exhibits excellent removal efficiency of chemical and biological pollutants. Meanwhile, doxorubicin is modified onto GFHMs for the application of drug delivery. Accordingly, we believe that GFHMs have great potential in a variety of fields by modifying graphene with other nanoparticles or functional molecules.