Membrane template synthesis of microtube engines

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10851463-B2
Application number	US-201815967454-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 30, 2018
Priority date	Jun 2, 2011
Publication date	Dec 1, 2020
Grant date	Dec 1, 2020

Abstract

Methods, structures, devices and systems are disclosed for fabrication of microtube engines using membrane template electrodeposition. Such nanomotors operate based on bubble-induced propulsion in biological fluids and salt-rich environments. In one aspect, fabricating microengines includes depositing a polymer layer on a membrane template, depositing a conductive metal layer on the polymer layer, and dissolving the membrane template to release the multilayer microtubes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A microstructure for binding and transporting a substance in a fluid environment, comprising:
a microtube having a tube body that connects a large opening and a short opening at opposite ends of the microtube and that spatially reduces in size along a longitudinal direction from the large opening to the small opening,
wherein the microtube includes a layered wall structure having a plurality of layers including a first layer and a second layer, wherein the second layer is an interior layer of the microtube; and
a functionalization layer coupled to an external surface of the microtube, the functionalization layer including a terminal functional group providing a hydrophobic surface to the microstructure capable of adhere a substance in a fluid.

2. The microstructure of claim 1 , wherein the first layer comprises a polymer material.

3. The microstructure of claim 2 , wherein the polymer material comprises polyaniline (PANI) or polypyrrole (PPy) or poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT).

4. The microstructure of claim 1 , wherein the second layer comprises a material that is reactive with a fuel or is a catalyst of a fuel.

5. The microstructure of claim 4 , wherein the material that is a catalyst of a fuel comprises platinum.

6. The microstructure of claim 1 , wherein the layered wall structure includes a third layer that is an outer layer with respect to the first layer and the second layer, wherein the functionalization layer is coupled to the third layer.

7. The microstructure of claim 6 , wherein the third layer comprises gold.

8. The microstructure of claim 7 , wherein the functionalization layer includes a self-assembled monolayer including one or more alkanethiol molecules.

9. The microstructure of claim 8 , wherein at least some of the one or more alkanethiol molecules includes at least six carbon molecules in their hydrocarbon chain.

10. The microstructure of claim 8 , wherein at least some of the one or more alkanethiol molecules includes hexanethiols.

11. The microstructure of claim 6 , wherein the third layer comprises a magnetic material.

12. The microstructure of claim 6 , wherein the layered wall structure further includes a magnetic material layer disposed between the third layer and the first layer.

13. The microstructure of claim 12 , wherein the magnetic material layer comprises nickel.

14. The microstructure of claim 1 , wherein the functionalization layer includes a monolayer including hydrocarbon chain molecule.

15. The microstructure of claim 1 , wherein the terminal functional group includes a methyl group.

16. The microstructure of claim 1 , wherein the substance includes an oil, and wherein the microstructure is operable to propel in the fluid to contact the oil, adsorb a droplet of the oil, and propel away from the oil with the droplet adhered to the microstructure in a single propulsion.

17. The microstructure of claim 1 , wherein the microstructure is producible using a template comprising one or more holes of a geometry corresponding to that of the tube body.

18. The microstructure of claim 17 , wherein the template comprises an asymmetrical, conically-shaped pore structure.

19. The microstructure of claim 1 , wherein the microtube comprises a self-propulsion microtube.

20. The microstructure of claim 1 , wherein the microtube comprises a fuel based microtube.

Assignees

• Univ California

Inventors

• Wang Joseph
• Gao Wei
• Sattayasamitsathit Sirilak

Classifications

• B01J2235/30

  Scanning electron microscopy; Transmission electron microscopy · CPC title

• B01J2235/00

  Indexing scheme associated with group B01J35/00, related to the analysis techniques used to determine the catalysts form or properties · CPC title

• B82Y30/00 Primary

  Nanotechnology for materials or surface science, e.g. nanocomposites · CPC title

• A61K47/34

  Macromolecular compounds obtained otherwise than by reactions only involving carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds, e.g. polyesters, polyamino acids, polysiloxanes, polyphosphazines, copolymers of polyalkylene glycol or poloxamers (A61K47/10 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B01J23/8913

  Cobalt and noble metals · CPC title