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Cooperative Chemotaxis of Magnesium Microswimmers for Corrosion Spotting
Author(s) -
Pavel IleanaAlexandra,
Salinas Gerardo,
Mierzwa Maciej,
Arnaboldi Serena,
Garrigue Patrick,
Kuhn Alexander
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
chemphyschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.016
H-Index - 140
eISSN - 1439-7641
pISSN - 1439-4235
DOI - 10.1002/cphc.202100236
Subject(s) - corrosion , agglomerate , magnesium , spotting , chemotaxis , nanotechnology , materials science , chemistry , chemical physics , computer science , metallurgy , composite material , artificial intelligence , receptor , biochemistry
Numerous artificial micro‐ and nanomotors, as well as various swimmers have been inspired by living organisms that are able to move in a coordinated manner. Their cooperation has also gained a lot of attention because the resulting clusters are able to adapt to changes in their environment and to perform complex tasks. However, mimicking such a collective behavior remains a challenge. In the present work, magnesium microparticles are used as chemotactic swimmers with pronounced collective features, allowing the gradual formation of macroscopic agglomerates. The formed clusters act like a single swimmer able to follow pH gradients. This dynamic behavior can be used to spot localized corrosion events in a straightforward way. The autonomous docking of the swimmers to the corrosion site leads to the formation of a local protection layer, thus increasing corrosion resistance and triggering partial self‐healing.