Soft Microrobots Employing Nonequilibrium Actuation via Plasmonic Heating.

Mourran, Ahmed; Zhang, Hang; Vinokur, Rostislav; Möller, Martin · Adv Mater · 2017

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

A soft microrobot composed of a microgel and driven by the light-controlled nonequilibrium dynamics of volume changes is presented. The photothermal response of the microgel, containing plasmonic gold nanorods, enables fast heating/cooling dynamics. Mastering the nonequilibrium response provides control of the complex motion, which goes beyond what has been so far reported for hydrophilic microgels.