Artificial bacterial flagella: Fabrication and magnetic control

Inspired by the natural design of bacterial flagella, we report artificial bacterial flagella (ABF) that have a comparable shape and size to their organic counterparts and can swim in a controllable fashion using weak applied magnetic fields. The helical swimmer consists of a helical tail resembling the dimensions of a natural flagellum and a thin soft-magnetic “head” on one end. The swimming locomotion of ABF is precisely controlled by three orthogonal electromagnetic coil pairs. Microsphere manipulation is performed, and the thrust force generated by an ABF is analyzed. ABF swimmers represent the first demonstration of microscopic artificial swimmers that use helical propulsion. Self-propelled devices such as these are of interest in fundamental research and for biomedical applications.

[1]  J. Happel,et al.  Low Reynolds number hydrodynamics , 1965 .

[2]  E. Gyorgy,et al.  Magnetic-Shape Anisotropy in Polygonal Prisms , 1968 .

[3]  E. Purcell Life at Low Reynolds Number , 2008 .

[4]  William C. Broaddus,et al.  MAGNETIC MANIPULATION INSTRUMENTATION FOR MEDICAL PHYSICS RESEARCH , 1994 .

[5]  K. Arai,et al.  Micro swimming mechanisms propelled by external magnetic fields , 1996 .

[6]  M. A. Putyato,et al.  Free-standing and overgrown InGaAs/GaAs nanotubes, nanohelices and their arrays , 2000 .

[7]  O. Schmidt,et al.  Nanotechnology: Thin solid films roll up into nanotubes , 2001, Nature.

[8]  Oliver G. Schmidt,et al.  Three-dimensional nano-objects evolving from a two-dimensional layer technology , 2001 .

[9]  J. Gilman,et al.  Nanotechnology , 2001 .

[10]  Mir Behrad Khamesee,et al.  Design and control of a microrobotic system using magnetic levitation , 2002 .

[11]  Masaki Nakano,et al.  Wireless micro swimming machine with magnetic thin film , 2004 .

[12]  Li Zhang,et al.  Controllable fabrication of SiGe/Si and SiGe/Si/Cr helical nanobelts , 2005 .

[13]  Marcus L. Roper,et al.  Microscopic artificial swimmers , 2005, Nature.

[14]  Li Zhang,et al.  Anomalous coiling of SiGe/Si and SiGe/Si/Cr helical nanobelts. , 2006, Nano letters.

[15]  Sridhar Kota,et al.  IEEE/ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE , 2006 .

[16]  Bradley J. Nelson,et al.  Modeling and Control of Untethered Biomicrorobots in a Fluidic Environment Using Electromagnetic Fields , 2006, Int. J. Robotics Res..

[17]  R. Rosenfeld Nature , 2009, Otolaryngology--head and neck surgery : official journal of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.