Self-propelled predator-prey of swarming Janus micromotors

It is a long-standing challenge to accomplish bionic microrobot that acts in a similar way of white blood cell, chasing bacteria in complex environment. Without an effective external control field, most swarming microrobots systems are usu-ally unable to perform directional movement and redirect their motion to capture the target. Here we report the predatory-prey dynamics of self-propelled clus-ters of Janus micromotors. The active cluster generates an oxygen bubbles cloud around itself by decomposing H2O2, which levitated it above the substrate, enhancing its mobility in solution to wander around to devour other clusters. The fast decomposition of H2O2 also induced a tubular low-concentration zone that bridges two clusters far separated from each other, resulting in a diffusio-os-motic pressure that drives the two clusters to meet. This predatory-prey phen-omena mimic white blood cells chasing bacteria and swarming flocks in nature, shedding light on emergent collective intelligence in biology.

Automated summary

We studied the predatory-prey dynamics of self-propelled clusters of Janus micromotors, which generates an oxygen bubbles cloud by decomposing H2O2 and enhances its mobility to wander around and devour other clusters. The fast decomposition of H2O2 also induces a tubular low-concentration zone that bridges two far separated clusters, resulting in a diffusio-osmotic pressure that drives the clusters to meet. This predatory-prey phenomena mimic white blood cells chasing bacteria and swarming flocks in nature, shedding light on emergent collective intelligence in biology.