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Photocatalysis: a “Solar Sail” to Drive Microscale Objects in Water
Author(s) -
Zhang Jingtao,
Yang Weiyi,
Shang Jian Ku,
Fang Feng,
Gao Shuang,
Li Qi
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
advanced materials technologies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.184
H-Index - 42
ISSN - 2365-709X
DOI - 10.1002/admt.201700384
Subject(s) - microscale chemistry , photocatalysis , nanoscopic scale , nanotechnology , solar fuel , computer science , solar energy , chemical energy , aerospace engineering , environmental science , materials science , engineering , physics , electrical engineering , chemistry , catalysis , mathematics education , mathematics , biochemistry , thermodynamics
The capability to drive micro/nanoscale objects is critical in the development of micro/nanomachines for various technical applications. To overcome the chemical fuel requirement limitation on mostly investigated chemical power–based approaches, external energy source–driven approaches are explored. However, they usually require that micro/nanoscale objects should have special properties for their driven motion. For the first time it is shown that light illumination can be utilized to drive various micro/nanoscale objects through the assistance of photocatalysis as a “solar sail” due to its continuous production of chemicals with the driving potential. This approach can eliminate the requirement of chemical fuels or objects with special properties in previous studies, and can have the potential for various technical applications upon its full development to provide precise motion manipulations.