Micro-/nanorobot technology has developed rapidly in recent years due to their great potential to perform multiple tasks. Here, we develop magnetic microrobots prepared as polycaprolactone/Fe3O4 microspheres covered by micellar polyethyleneimine and use them to efficiently remove a nerve agent from contaminated water. The magnetic polymeric microrobots presented in this work removed around 60% of the nerve agent from water samples in a short time. The attractive performance of these magnetic microrobots offers a very promising approach to large-scale water treatment for environmental remediation.
Keywords: decontamination; fenitrothion; micro-/nanomotors; nerve agent; transversal rotating magnetic field.