Bioinspired Helical Microswimmers Based on Vascular Plants
Abstract
Plant-based bioinspired magnetically propelled helical microswimmers are described. The helical microstructures are derived from spiral water-conducting vessels of different plants, harnessing the intrinsic biological structures of nature. Geometric variables of the spiral vessels, such as the helix diameter and pitch, can be controlled by mechanical stretching for the precise fabrication and consistent performance of helical microswimmers. Xylem vessels of a wide variety of different plants have been evaluated for the consistency and reproducibility of their helical parameters. Sequential deposition of thin Ti and Ni layers directly on the spiral vessels, followed by dicing, leads to an extremely simple and cost-efficient mass-production of functional helical microswimmers. The resulting plant-based magnetic microswimmers display efficient propulsion, with a speed of over 250 μm/s, as well as powerful locomotion in biological media such as human serum. The influence of actuation frequencies on the swimming velocity is investigated. Such use of plant vessels results in significant savings in the processing costs and provides an extremely simple, cost-effective fabrication route for the large-scale production of helical magnetic swimmers.
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Spirulina (Arthrospira) sp. has gained extensive interest in microrobots due to its morphological features such as helical angle, helix diameter, and body length.
“In the scope of microrobots, Spirulina (Arthrospira) sp. Has gained extensive interest due to its morphological features such as the helical angle, helix diameter, and body length [159].”
From Emerging Applications of Chlorella sp. and Spirulina (Arthrospira) sp. (2023) · cites this paper as [159]
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- Authors
- Gao, W., Feng, X., Pei, A., Kane, C. R., Tam, R., Hennessy, C., & Wang, J.
- Affiliations
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Corresponding author
- Wang, Joseph
- Venue
- Nano Letters
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2013-12-06
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 305-310
- ISSN
- 1530-6984 (ISSN-L)
- 1530-6992
- OpenAlex
- W2321941055
- Cited by
- 380
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 42 · 2021: 39 · 2020: 36 · 2019: 38 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 45 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 15
- FWCI
- 13.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Nano Letters (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- Defense Threat Reduction Agency
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Condensed Matter Physics › Micro and Nano Robotics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Advanced Materials and Mechanics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Advanced MEMS and NEMS Technologies
- Keywords
- vascular plants, xylem vessels, magnetic actuation, TiNi thin films, mechanical stretch, mass production, actuation frequency, swimming speed
- MeSH terms
- Equipment Design, Materials Testing, Motion, Particle Size, Robotics, Swimming, Equipment Failure Analysis, Biomimetics, Microfluidics, Xylem, Metal Nanoparticles, Molecular Imprinting
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