AUTHOR=Mallick Apabrita , Laskar Abhrajit , Adhikari R. , Roy Soumyajit TITLE=Redox Reaction Triggered Nanomotors Based on Soft-Oxometalates With High and Sustained Motility JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry VOLUME=6 YEAR=2018 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2018.00152 DOI=10.3389/fchem.2018.00152 ISSN=2296-2646 ABSTRACT=

The recent interest in self-propulsion raises an immediate challenge in facile and single-step synthesis of active particles. Here, we address this challenge and synthesize soft oxometalate nanomotors that translate ballistically in water using the energy released in a redox reaction of hydrazine fuel with the soft-oxometalates. Our motors reach a maximum speed of 370 body lengths per second and remain motile over a period of approximately 3 days. We report measurements of the speed of a single motor as a function of the concentration of hydrazine. It is also possible to induce a transition from single-particle translation to collective motility with biomimetic bands simply by tuning the loading of the fuel. We rationalize the results from a physicochemical hydrodynamic theory. Our nanomotors may also be used for transport of catalytic materials in harsh chemical environments that would otherwise passivate the active catalyst.