Skip to main content

Self-assembly of robotic micro- and nanoswimmers using magnetic nanoparticles

Journal of Nanoparticle Research volume 17, Article number: 145 (2015) Cite this article

Abstract

Micro- and nanoscale robotic swimmers are very promising to significantly enhance the performance of particulate drug delivery by providing high accuracy at extremely small scales. Here, we introduce micro- and nanoswimmers fabricated using self-assembly of nanoparticles and control via magnetic fields. Nanoparticles self-align into parallel chains under magnetization. The swimmers exhibit flexibility under a rotating magnetic field resulting in chiral structures upon deformation, thereby having the prerequisite for non-reciprocal motion to move about at low Reynolds number. The swimmers are actuated wirelessly using an external rotating magnetic field supplied by approximate Helmholtz coils. By controlling the concentration of the suspended magnetic nanoparticles, the swimmers can be modulated into different sizes. Nanoscale swimmers are largely influenced by Brownian motion, as observed from their jerky trajectories. The microswimmers, which are roughly three times larger, are less vulnerable to the effects from Brownian motion. In this paper, we demonstrate responsive directional control of micro- and nanoswimmers and compare their respective diffusivities and trajectories to characterize the implications of Brownian disturbance on the motions of small and large swimmers. We then performed a simulation using a kinematic model for the magnetic swimmers including the stochastic nature of Brownian motion.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price includes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

References

  • Abbott J, Peyer K, Lagomarsino M, Zhang L, Dong L, Kaliakatsos I, Nelson B (2009) How should microrobots swim? Int J Robot Res 28:1434–1447

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Avron JE, Kenneth O, Oaknin DH (2005) Pushmepullyou: an efficient micro-swimmer. New J Phys 7:234

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bae YH, Park K (2011) Targeted drug delivery to tumors: myths, reality and possibility. J Controll Release 153:198–205

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bajpai I, Balani K, Basu B (2013) Spark plasma sintered HA-Fe3O4-based multifunctional magnetic biocomposites. J Am Ceram Soc 96:2100–2108. doi:10.1111/jace.12386

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Basarkar A, Singh J (2007) Nanoparticulate systems for polynucleotide delivery. Int J Nanomed 2:353–360

    Google Scholar 

  • Biswal SL, Gast AP (2004) Rotational dynamics of semiflexible paramagnetic particle chains. Phys Rev E 69:041406

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cēbers A, Javaitis I (2004) Dynamics of a flexible magnetic chain in a rotating magnetic field. Phys Rev E 69:021404

    Google Scholar 

  • Cheang UK, Roy D, Lee JH, Kim MJ (2010) Fabrication and magnetic control of bacteria-inspired robotic microswimmers. Appl Phys Lett 97:213704. doi:10.1063/1.3518982

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheang UK, Lee K, Julius AA, Kim MJ (2014a) Multiple-robot drug delivery strategy through coordinated teams of microswimmers. Appl Phys Lett 105:083705

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheang UK, Meshkati F, Kim D, Kim MJ, Fu HC (2014b) Minimal geometric requirements for micropropulsion via magnetic rotation. Phys Rev E 90:033007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheong FC, Grier DG (2010) Rotational and translational diffusion of copper oxide nanorods measured with holographic video microscopy. Opt Express 18:6555–6562

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clearfield A (1996) Current opinion in solid state and materials science. Curr Sci 1:268

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobson J (2006) Magnetic nanoparticles for drug delivery. Drug Dev Res 67:55–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dogangil G, Ergeneman O, Abbott JJ, Pané S, Hall H, Muntwyler S, Nelson BJ (2008) Toward targeted retinal drug delivery with wireless magnetic microrobots. In: IEEE international conference on intelligent robots and systems, Nice, pp 1921–1926

  • Dreyfus R, Baudry J, Roper ML, Fermigier M, Stone HA (2005) Microscopic artificial swimmers. Nature 437:862–865

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elimelech M, Jia X, Gregory J, Williams R (1998) Particle deposition and aggregation: measurement, modelling and simulation. Butterworth-Heinemann, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Fang W-X, He Z-H, Xu X-Q, Mao Z-Q, Shen H (2007) Magnetic-field-induced chain-like assembly structures of Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Europhys Lett 77:68004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferreira A, Agnus J, Chaillet N, Breguet J-M (2004) A smart microrobot on chip: design, identification, and control. IEEE/ASME Trans Mechatron 9:508–519

  • Fusco S, Chatzipirpiridis G, Sivaraman KM, Ergeneman O, Nelson BJ, Pané S (2013a) Chitosan electrodeposition for microrobotic drug delivery. Adv Healthc Mater 2:1037–1044

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fusco S, Chatzipirpiridis G, Sivaraman KM, Ergeneman O, Nelson BJ, Pané S (2013b) Chitosan electrodeposition for microrobotic drug delivery. Adv Healthcare Mater 2:1037–1044

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gao W et al (2012) Cargo-Towing fuel-free magnetic nanoswimmers for targeted drug delivery. Small 8:460–467. doi:10.1002/smll.201101909

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gao W, D’Agostino M, Garcia-Gradilla V, Orozco J, Wang J (2013) Multi-fuel driven Janus micromotors. Small 9:467–471

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gauger E, Stark H (2006) Numerical study of a microscopic artificial swimmer. Phys Rev E 74:021907

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gelperina S, Kisich K, Iseman MD, Heifets L (2005) The potential advantages of nanoparticle drug delivery systems in chemotherapy of tuberculosis. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 172:1487–1490

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghosh A, Fischer P (2009) Controlled propulsion of artificial magnetic nanostructured propellers. Nano Lett 9:2243–2245. doi:10.1021/nl900186w

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghosh A, Paria D, Singh HJ, Venugopalan PL, Ghosh A (2012) Dynamical configurations and bistability of helical nanostructures under external torque. Phys Rev E 86:031401

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghosh A, Mandal P, Karmakar S, Ghosh A (2013a) Analytical theory and stability analysis of an elongated nanoscale object under external torque. Phys Chem Chem Phys 15:10817–10823

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghosh A, Paria D, Rangarajan G, Ghosh A (2013b) Velocity fluctuations in helical propulsion: how small can a propeller Be. J Phys Chem Lett 5:62–68

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grady M, Howard M III, Molloy J, Ritter R, Quate E, Gillies G (1990) Nonlinear magnetic stereotaxis: three-dimensional, in vivo remote magnetic manipulation of a small object in canine brain. Med Phys 17:405–415

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim DH, Cheang UK, Kohidai L, Byun D, Kim MJ (2010) Artificial magnetotactic motion control of Tetrahymena pyriformis using ferromagnetic nanoparticles: a tool for fabrication of microbiorobots. Appl Phys Lett 97:173702

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim S et al (2013a) Fabrication and characterization of magnetic microrobots for three-dimensional cell culture and targeted transportation. Adv Mater. doi:10.1002/adma.201300223

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim S et al (2013b) Fabrication and characterization of magnetic microrobots for three-dimensional cell culture and targeted transportation. Adv Mater 25:5863–5868

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leoni M, Kotar J, Bassetti B, Cicuta P, Lagomarsino MC (2009) A basic swimmer at low Reynolds number. Soft Matter 5:472–476

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu X, Kim K, Zhang Y, Sun Y (2009) Nanonewton force sensing and control in microrobotic cell manipulation. Int J Robot Res 28:1065–1076

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magdanz V, Sanchez S, Schmidt OG (2013) Development of a sperm-flagella driven micro-bio-robot. Adv Mater 25:6588–6591

    Google Scholar 

  • Manesh KM, Cardona M, Yuan R, Clark M, Kagan D, Balasubramanian S, Wang J (2010) Template-assisted fabrication of salt-independent catalytic tubular microengines. ACS Nano 4:1799–1804

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martel S et al (2007) Automatic navigation of an untethered device in the artery of a living animal using a conventional clinical magnetic resonance imaging system. Appl Phys Lett 90:114105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mathieu J-B, Beaudoin G, Martel S (2006) Method of propulsion of a ferromagnetic core in the cardiovascular system through magnetic gradients generated by an MRI system. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 53:292–299

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mody VV, Cox A, Shah S, Singh A, Bevins W, Parihar H (2014) Magnetic nanoparticle drug delivery systems for targeting tumor. Appl Nanosci 4:385–392

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mori N, Kuribayashi K, Takeuchi S (2010) Artificial flagellates: analysis of advancing motions of biflagellate micro-objects. Appl Phys Lett 96:083701. doi:10.1063/1.3327522

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Najafi A, Golestanian R (2004) Simple swimmer at low Reynolds number: three linked spheres. Phys Rev E 69:062901

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ogrin FY, Petrov PG, Winlove CP (2008) Ferromagnetic microswimmers. Phys Rev Lett 100:218102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ortega A, de la Torre JG (2003) Hydrodynamic properties of rodlike and disklike particles in dilute solution. J Chem Phys 119:9914–9919

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peyer KE, Zhang L, Nelson BJ (2011) Localized non-contact manipulation using artificial bacterial flagella Appl Phys Lett 99:174101 doi:10.1063/1.3655904

  • Purcell EM (1977) Life at low Reynolds number. Am J Phys 45:3–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh R, Lillard JW Jr (2009) Nanoparticle-based targeted drug delivery. Exp Mol Pathol 86:215–223

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solovev AA, Mei Y, Bermúdez Ureña E, Huang E, Schmidt OG (2009) Catalytic microtubular jet engines self-propelled by accumulated gas bubbles. Small 5:1688–1692

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solovev AA, Xi W, Gracias DH, Harazim SM, Deneke C, Sanchez S, Schmidt OG (2012) Self-propelled nanotools. ACS Nano 6:1751–1756

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steager EB, Sakar MS, Kumar V, Pappas GJ, Kim MJ (2011) Electrokinetic and optical control of bacterial microrobots. J Micromech Microeng 21:035001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sun C, Lee JS, Zhang M (2008) Magnetic nanoparticles in MR imaging and drug delivery. Adv Drug Delivery Rev 60:1252–1265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tabak AF, Temel FZ, Yesilyurt S (2011) Comparison on experimental and numerical results for helical swimmers inside channels. In: IEEE/RSJ international conference on intelligent robots and systems (IROS), pp 463–468

  • Tan ML, Choong PF, Dass CR (2010) Recent developments in liposomes, microparticles and nanoparticles for protein and peptide drug delivery. Peptides 31:184–193

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Temel FZ, Yesilyurt S (2011) Magnetically actuated micro swimming of bio-inspired robots in mini channels. In: International conference on mechatronics, Istanbul, pp 342-347. 13–15 April 2011

  • Tottori S, Zhang L, Qiu F, Krawczyk KK, Franco-Obregón A, Nelson BJ (2012) Magnetic helical micromachines: fabrication, controlled swimming, and cargo transport. Adv Mater 24:811–816. doi:10.1002/adma.201103818

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vach PJ et al (2013) Selecting for function: solution synthesis of magnetic nanopropellers. Nano Lett 13:5373–5378. doi:10.1021/nl402897x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vartholomeos P, Fruchard M, Ferreira A, Mavroidis C (2011) MRI-guided nanorobotic systems for therapeutic and diagnostic applications. Annu Rev Biomed Eng 13:157–184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Venugopalan PL, Sai R, Chandorkar Y, Basu B, Shivashankar S, Ghosh A (2014) Conformal cytocompatible ferrite coatings facilitate the realization of a nanovoyager in human blood. Nano Lett 14:1968–1975. doi:10.1021/nl404815q

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vuppu AK, Garcia AA, Hayes MA (2003) Video microscopy of dynamically aggregated paramagnetic particle chains in an applied rotating magnetic field. Langmuir 19:8646–8653. doi:10.1021/la034195a

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xi W, Solovev AA, Ananth AN, Gracias DH, Sanchez S, Schmidt OG (2013) Rolled-up magnetic microdrillers: towards remotely controlled minimally invasive surgery. Nanoscale 5:1294–1297

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yesin KB, Exner P, Vollmers K, Nelson BJ (2005) Design and control of in vivo magnetic microrobots Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention 3749:819–826

    Google Scholar 

  • Ytreberg FM, McKay SR (2000) Calculated properties of field-induced aggregates in ferrofluids. Phys Rev E 61:4107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang H, Hutmacher DW, Chollet F, Poo AN, Burdet E (2005) Microrobotics and MEMS-based fabrication techniques for scaffold-based tissue engineering. Macromol Biosci 5:477–489

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was funded by National Science Foundation (CMMI 1000255), Army Research Office (W911NF-11-1-0490), and Korea Institute of Science and Technology Global Research Laboratory (K-GRL) awards to Min Jun Kim, and by National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF-GRF) award to U. Kei Cheang.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering & Mechanics, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    U. Kei Cheang & Min Jun Kim

Authors
  1. U. Kei Cheang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Min Jun Kim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Min Jun Kim.

Additional information

Guest Editors: Leonardo Ricotti, Arianna Menciassi

This article is part of the topical collection on Nanotechnology in Biorobotic Systems

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

11051_2014_2737_MOESM1_ESM.mpg

Supplementary material 1 (MPG 90,492 kb)

Supplementary material 2 (MPG 63,864 kb)

Supplementary material 1 (MPG 90,492 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Cheang, U.K., Kim, M.J. Self-assembly of robotic micro- and nanoswimmers using magnetic nanoparticles. J Nanopart Res 17, 145 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-014-2737-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-014-2737-z

Keywords

  • Micro- and nanorobotics
  • Micro- and nanoswimmers
  • Low Reynolds number
  • Magnetic self-assembly
  • Magnetic nanoparticles