Janus Metal Organic Framework Micromotors for the Efficient Removal of Chemical Agents

Description:
Chemically powered micromotors are an active matter system that have been developed with potential applications in chemical sensing, targeted drug delivery, self-assembly, and pollution mitigation. In addition, micromotors have been explored for potential use in chemical warfare agent (CWA) decontamination. Specifically, micromotors increase interactions between CWA with decontamination sites by the metal-organic framework (MOF) based micromotor active movement which increases the rate of CWA decontamination compared to stationary particles that are limited in decontamination site interactions by passive diffusion. In this work, we have functionalized platinum Janus micromotors with UiO-66 MOF that has been previously shown to be effective at decontaminating CWA because of its high porosity/surface area compared to other commonly used materials for decontamination. Furthermore, the micromotors are powered by the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide as fuel. We compare the decontamination rate of UiO-66 Janus micromotors with that of stationary UiO-66 MOF particles under similar conditions by UV-VIS to see how much higher the decontamination rate of the UiO-66 micromotors are compared to that of the stationary particles. We also characterize the motion of the UiO-66 Janus micromotor trajectories and speed. Through this work, we aim to find the optimal micromotor design for rapid and efficient CWA decontamination.

Speaker: Matthew Collins - Leidos