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Fabrication of shape-tunable micromotors based on mass transfer and phase separation

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Abstract

Bubble-propelled micromotors with controlled size and morphologies are developed by a simple and flexible strategy for efficient wastewater treatment. Controllably and spontaneously evolved complex emulsions from microfluidics are used as templates for continuous fabrication of the micromotors in one step. As the flow rate ratio of disperse phase II (dextran aqueous solution) to disperse phase I (ethoxylated trimethylolpropane triacrylate and poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate mixture) increases, the micromotor can evolve from a double spherical shape to a snowman shape. By fine tuning the fabrication parameters, we can fabricate micromotors loading with MnO2 nanoparticles on the concave surface, Fe3O4 nanoparticles on the convex surface and Fe3O4 nanoparticles inside the micromotors simultaneously. The obtained micromotors are propelled by O2 bubbles generated from MnO2-triggered catalytic decomposition of H2O2, with the highest speed at about 86.4 μm/s. Fe3O4-induced Fenton reaction can account for the methylene blue degradation. Our study provides an easy and effective strategy for the one-step synthesis of spherical and non-spherical micromotors, which can be potentially used for highly efficient wastewater treatments.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its Supplementary Information file.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation, China (Grant No. ZR2020KB009).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Water Conservancy and Environment, University of **an, **an, 250022, China

    Chengjie Qu, Haihong Zhou, **nyu Li, **usen Geng & Weilin Guo

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  1. Chengjie Qu
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  2. Haihong Zhou
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  3. **nyu Li
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  4. **usen Geng
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  5. Weilin Guo
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Contributions

CQ involved in conception, supervision, data curation and writing—original draft. HZ involved in methodology and experimental design. XL involved in validation and supervision. XG involved in investigation and supervision. WG involved in conception, writing—review and editing, supervision, and funding acquisition.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Weilin Guo.

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Qu, C., Zhou, H., Li, X. et al. Fabrication of shape-tunable micromotors based on mass transfer and phase separation. J Mater Sci 58, 16297–16308 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-023-09062-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-023-09062-6

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