Micellar Polymer Magnetic Microrobots as Efficient Nerve Agent Microcleaners
Marta Pacheco, Carmen C. Mayorga‐Martinez, Alberto Escarpa, Martin Pumera
Abstract
Micro-/nanorobot technology has developed rapidly in recent years due to their great potential to perform multiple tasks. Here, we develop magnetic microrobots prepared as polycaprolactone/Fe3O4 microspheres covered by micellar polyethyleneimine and use them to efficiently remove a nerve agent from contaminated water. The magnetic polymeric microrobots presented in this work removed around 60% of the nerve agent from water samples in a short time. The attractive performance of these magnetic microrobots offers a very promising approach to large-scale water treatment for environmental remediation.
Topics & Concepts
Materials sciencePolycaprolactoneNanoroboticsNanotechnologyMagnetic nanoparticlesPolymerMicrosphereChemical engineeringNanoparticleComposite materialEngineeringMicro and Nano RoboticsModular Robots and Swarm IntelligencePickering emulsions and particle stabilization