Self-Propelled Structural Color Cylindrical Micromotors for Heavy Metal Ions Adsorption and Screening

Water contamination resulting from heavy metal ions (HMIs) poses a severe threat to public health and the ecosystem. Attempts are tending to develop functional materials to realize efficient and intelligent adsorption of HMIs. Herein, self-propelled structural color cylindrical micromotors (SCCMs) with reversible HMIs adsorption capacity and self-reporting property are presented. The SCCMs are fabricated by using platinum nanoparticles (Pt NPs) tagged responsive hydrogel of carboxymethyl chitosan (CMC) and polyacrylamide (PAM) to asymmetrically replicate tubular colloidal crystal templates (TCCTs). Owing to the self-propelled motion of the SCCMs, the enhancive ion-motor interactions bring significantly improved decontamination efficiency. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the SCCMs can realize quick and naked-eye-visible self-reporting during the adsorption/desorption process based on their responsive structure color variation and superior adsorption capacity. Thus, it is anticipated that such intelligent SCCMs can significantly facilitate the evolution of sensing assays and diverse environmental fields.

Automated summary

This study presents self-propelled structural color cylindrical micromotors (SCCMs) with reversible adsorption capability and self-reporting property, which can efficiently purify water contaminated with heavy metal ions and achieve rapid naked-eye-visible self-reporting.