Reported by:GUO Xiang
Translated by: LI Zhijia
Edited by: Jonathan Wylie
With the cooperation of HIT State Key Laboratory of Robotics and Systems, the team led by Professor HE Qiang from HIT Micro Nano Technology Research Center, has made great progress in synthetic self-driven nano-machines in recent years. “Near-Infrared Light-Triggered ‘On/Off’ Motion of Polymer Multilayer Rockets” was published in the internationally renowned journal American Chemical Society · Nano (ACS Nano). The first author is 2011 HIT, Ph.D. graduate WU Zhiguang. HIT is the only signature unit of the paper.
In recent years, a method of how to synthetically produce artificial nano-machines, and apply them in the fields of nanotechnology and biomedical engineering, has proved a challenging frontier. In previous work, Professor HE’s team, for the first time, prepared platinum nanoparticle polymer nanotubes. The bubble produced by chemical catalysts inside make the nanotubes move fast ("nano-rocket"). The results of the research were published in the internationally renowned Journal of Applied Chemistry in Germany (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., impact factor 13.5). However, how to artificially control the starting or stopping of nano-machines to facilitate practical applications such as helping to deliver drugs in the human body, is still problematic. Researchers of the Micro and Nano Technology Research Center succeeded in the start and stop of "nano-rockets" by using the heat of near-infrared laser irradiation. The basic principle is that in a certain concentration of chemical fuels, the "nano-rocket" is stationary, but as the temperature becomes higher through nanometer infrared laser irradiation this accelerates the diffusion rate of the fuel and the subsequent chemical reaction rate, triggering a nano-machine’s rapid movement. When the near-infrared laser is removed, the lower temperature leads to a corresponding decline in the rate of chemical catalysis, causing the "nano-rocket" to slow down and stop. This switching process can be repeated many times.
