Characterizing the Swimming Properties of Artificial Bacterial Flagella

作者：Li Zhang, Jake J. Abbott, Lixin Dong, Kathrin E. Peyer, Bradley E. Kratochvil, Haixin Zhang, Christos Bergeles, Bradley J. Nelson · 发表于：Nano Letters · 年份：2009 · DOI：10.1021/nl901869j · 被引用次数：488 · 研究领域：Micro and Nano Robotics、Microfluidic and Bio-sensing Technologies、Molecular Communication and Nanonetworks

Artificial bacterial flagella (ABFs) consist of helical tails resembling natural flagella fabricated by the self-scrolling of helical nanobelts and soft-magnetic heads composed of Cr/Ni/Au stacked thin films. ABFs are controlled wirelessly using a low-strength rotating magnetic field. Self-propelled devices such as these are of interest for in vitro and in vivo biomedical applications. Swimming tests of ABFs show a linear relationship between the frequency of the applied field and the translational velocity when the frequency is lower than the step-out frequency of the ABF. Moreover, the influences of head size on swimming velocity and the lateral drift of an ABF near a solid boundary are investigated. An experimental method to estimate the propulsion matrix of a helical swimmer under a light microscope is developed. Finally, swarm-like behavior of multiple ABFs controlled as a single entity is demonstrated.