Soft Microrobots Employing Nonequilibrium Actuation via Plasmonic Heating

Ahmed Mourran; Hang Zhang; Rostislav Vinokur; Martin Möller

doi:10.1002/adma.201604825

Soft Microrobots Employing Nonequilibrium Actuation via Plasmonic Heating

Adv Mater. 2017 Jan;29(2). doi: 10.1002/adma.201604825. Epub 2016 Nov 7.

Authors

Ahmed Mourran¹, Hang Zhang¹, Rostislav Vinokur¹, Martin Möller¹

Affiliation

¹ DWI-Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials, RWTH Aachen University, Forckenbeck str. 50, D-52056, Aachen, Germany.

PMID: 27865006
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201604825

Abstract

A soft microrobot composed of a microgel and driven by the light-controlled nonequilibrium dynamics of volume changes is presented. The photothermal response of the microgel, containing plasmonic gold nanorods, enables fast heating/cooling dynamics. Mastering the nonequilibrium response provides control of the complex motion, which goes beyond what has been so far reported for hydrophilic microgels.

Keywords: gold nanorods; microgels; microswimmers; photo-thermo-mechanical actuators; thermoplasmonic.