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Preparation, heat-enabled shape variation, and cargo manipulation of polymer-based micromotors

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Abstract

In this paper, we report the facile fabrication of a sheet-like polymer-based micromotor through the combination of spin coating, self-assembly, and sonication techniques. By carefully adjusting the construction conditions, such as the solution concentration, spin coating speed, and the sonication time, the size of the resulting micromotor can be finely tuned. The utilization of the polymeric materials inside a micromotor brings several advantages, such as the thermal property and the encapsulation of functional materials. As a consequence, the resulting micromotors can not only undergo shape variation from sheets to spheres at an elevated temperature but also exhibit the magnetic response based on the encapsulated magnetic nanoparticles. Furthermore, by combining these two different properties, a new strategy to realize the controlled cargo capture, transport and release based on the polymer’s softening property is proposed in this work. The low cost, easy processing, and versatile functions make current micromotor, an attractive candidate for practical applications, such as targeted drug delivery.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21304064), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20130292), a project funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD), the Fund for Excellent Creative Research Teams of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, and the project sponsored by SRF for ROCS, SEM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials & Devices and Collaborative Innovation Center (CIC) of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Limei Liu, Mei Liu, Yonggang Dong, Wei Zhou, Lina Zhang, Yajun Su, Hui Zhang & Bin Dong

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  1. Limei Liu
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  2. Mei Liu
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  3. Yonggang Dong
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  7. Hui Zhang
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  8. Bin Dong
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Correspondence to Bin Dong.

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Liu, L., Liu, M., Dong, Y. et al. Preparation, heat-enabled shape variation, and cargo manipulation of polymer-based micromotors. J Mater Sci 51, 1496–1503 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-015-9470-6

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