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AlgaeSperm: Microalgae‐Based Soft Magnetic Microrobots for Targeted Tumor Treatment
Author(s) -
Celi Nuoer,
Gong De,
Cai Jun,
Tang Tan,
Xu Ye,
Zhang Deyuan
Publication year - 2025
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.202407585
Subject(s) - magnetic nanoparticles , nanotechnology , materials science , propulsion , photothermal therapy , targeted drug delivery , magnetic hyperthermia , drug delivery , nanoparticle , biomedical engineering , aerospace engineering , engineering
Abstract Magnetic microrobots are significant platforms for targeted drug delivery, among which sperm‐inspired types have attracted much attention due to their flexible undulation. However, mass production of sperm‐like soft magnetic microrobots with high‐speed propulsion is still challenging due to the need of more reasonable structure design and facile fabrication. Herein, a novel strategy is proposed for large‐scale preparation of microalgae‐based soft microrobots with a fully magnetic head‐to‐tail structure, called AlgaeSperm with robust propulsion and chemo‐photothermal performance. This approach deposited Pd@Au nanoparticles (NPs) inside chlorella cells, which are further coated with Fe 3 O 4 NPs and polydopamine layers to form the magnetic heads. Then, flexible flagella are grafted via magnetic assembly of Fe 3 O 4 @PVP NPs to construct the final AlgaeSperm. Under precessing magnetic fields, the AlgaeSperms can achieve a forward velocity up to 2.3 body length/s, the highest among sperm‐like magnetic microrobots to the best of the knowledge. Besides, their flexible maneuverability in a swarm is also verified. In vitro anti‐cancer experiments are conducted after loading doxorubicin (DOX) to confirm their excellent targeted chemo‐photothermal performance. This work offers a significant paradigm for constructing sperm‐like soft magnetic microrobots with great potential for targeted tumor treatment.

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