Better fuels for photocatalytic micromotors: a case study of triethanolamine

Efficient fuels are critical for designing photocatalytic micromotors with high performance. We discover that 0.5 mM of triethanolamine can power TiO2-Pt motors at 35 mu m s(-1) without producing bubbles, a significant improvement over conventional fuels such as water, H2O2 or hydroquinone. The effectiveness of hole scavengers such as triethanolamine can be generalized to other photocatalytic micromotors containing a heterojunction with an n-type (but not a p-type) semiconductor.

Automated summary

Efficient fuels like triethanolamine can power TiO2-Pt micromotors at high speeds, without producing bubbles. Hole scavengers, such as triethanolamine, are effective in photocatalytic micromotors with a heterojunction, specifically n-type semiconductors.