Catalytically powered dynamic assembly of rod-shaped nanomotors and passive tracer particles

Wei Wang, Wentao Duan, Ayusman Sen, Thomas E. Mallouk

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

171 Scopus citations

Abstract

Nano- and microscale motors powered by catalytic reactions exhibit collective behavior such as swarming, predator-prey interactions, and chemotaxis that resemble those of biological microorganisms. A quantitative understanding of the catalytically generated forces between particles that lead to these behaviors has so far been lacking. Observations and numerical simulations of pairwise interactions between gold-platinum nanorods in hydrogen peroxide solutions show that attractive and repulsive interactions arise from the catalytically generated electric field. Electrokinetic effects drive the assembly of staggered doublets and triplets of nanorods that are moving in the same direction. None of these behaviors are observedwith nanorods composed of a singlemetal. The motors also collect tracer microparticles at their head or tail, depending on the charge of the particles, actively assembling them into close-packed rafts and aggregates of rafts. These motor-tracer particle interactions can also be understood in terms of the catalytically generated electric field around the ends of the nanorod motors.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)17744-17749
Number of pages6
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume110
Issue number44
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 29 2013

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General

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