Bacteria Flagella-Mimicking Polymer Multilayer Magnetic Microrobots

Learning from natural bacteria flagellum, we demonstrate a magnetic polymer multilayer conical microrobot that bestow the controllable propulsion upon external rotating magnetic field with uniform intensity. The magnetic microrobots were constructed by template-assisted Layer-by-Layer technique technique and subsequent functionalization of magnetic particle onto the big opening of the microrobots. Geometric variables of the polymer microrobots, such as the diameter and wall thickness, can be controlled by selection of porous template and layers of assembly. The microrobots perform controllable propulsion through the manipulation of magnetic field. The comparative analysis of the movement behavior reveals that the deformation of microrobots may attributed to the propulsion upon rotating magnetic field, which is similar as that of natural bacteria. The influence of actuation frequencies and frequencies on the velocity of the microrobots is studied. Such use of polymer polymer multilayer tubular micro/nanoarchitectures results in significant savings in the processing costs and provides a simple and cost-effective fabrication route for the mass production of magnetic polymer microrobots.