The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Ionic species affect the self-propulsion of urease-powered micromotors

Ionic species affect the self-propulsion of urease-powered micromotors
Ionic species affect the self-propulsion of urease-powered micromotors
Enzyme-powered motors self-propel through the catalysis of in situ bioavailable fuels, which makes them excellent candidates for biomedical applications. However, fundamental issues like their motion in biological fluids and the understanding of the propulsion mechanism are critical aspects to be tackled before a future application in biomedicine. Herein, we investigated the physicochemical effects of ionic species on the self-propulsion of urease-powered micromotors. Results showed that the presence of PBS, NaOH, NaCl, and HEPES reduced self-propulsion of urease-powered micromotors pointing towards ion-dependent mechanisms of motion. We studied the 3D motion of urease micromotors using digital holographic microscopy to rule out any motor-surface interaction as the cause of motion decay when salts are present in the media. In order to protect and minimize the negative effect of ionic species on micromotors’ performance, we coated the motors with methoxypolyethylene glycol amine (mPEG) showing higher speed compared to noncoated motors at intermediate ionic concentrations. These results provide new insights into the mechanism of urease-powered micromotors, study the effect of ionic media, and contribute with potential solutions to mitigate the reduction of mobility of enzyme-powered micromotors.
Arqué, Xavier
19df0279-36fd-4c93-8d06-732498f0e099
Andrés, Xavier
62267210-e094-493d-b9f6-ba14077c366e
Mestre, R
33721a01-ab1a-4f71-8b0e-abef8afc92f3
Ciraulo, Bernard
80e7d401-c1c3-4c67-84a4-984fcd32a6de
Arroyo-Ortega, Jaime
47627879-6fe4-455a-bc65-99a810fb1ee6
Quidant, Romain
909bc087-6f6d-4456-80e2-6625c67e20dd
Patiño, Tania
efac661c-e5d3-4619-8cd9-db82f392683a
Sánchez, Samuel
fcc57047-6bd3-46ef-82d6-216582e942bb
Arqué, Xavier
19df0279-36fd-4c93-8d06-732498f0e099
Andrés, Xavier
62267210-e094-493d-b9f6-ba14077c366e
Mestre, R
33721a01-ab1a-4f71-8b0e-abef8afc92f3
Ciraulo, Bernard
80e7d401-c1c3-4c67-84a4-984fcd32a6de
Arroyo-Ortega, Jaime
47627879-6fe4-455a-bc65-99a810fb1ee6
Quidant, Romain
909bc087-6f6d-4456-80e2-6625c67e20dd
Patiño, Tania
efac661c-e5d3-4619-8cd9-db82f392683a
Sánchez, Samuel
fcc57047-6bd3-46ef-82d6-216582e942bb

Arqué, Xavier, Andrés, Xavier, Mestre, R, Ciraulo, Bernard, Arroyo-Ortega, Jaime, Quidant, Romain, Patiño, Tania and Sánchez, Samuel (2020) Ionic species affect the self-propulsion of urease-powered micromotors. Research, [2424972]. (doi:10.34133/2020/2424972).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Enzyme-powered motors self-propel through the catalysis of in situ bioavailable fuels, which makes them excellent candidates for biomedical applications. However, fundamental issues like their motion in biological fluids and the understanding of the propulsion mechanism are critical aspects to be tackled before a future application in biomedicine. Herein, we investigated the physicochemical effects of ionic species on the self-propulsion of urease-powered micromotors. Results showed that the presence of PBS, NaOH, NaCl, and HEPES reduced self-propulsion of urease-powered micromotors pointing towards ion-dependent mechanisms of motion. We studied the 3D motion of urease micromotors using digital holographic microscopy to rule out any motor-surface interaction as the cause of motion decay when salts are present in the media. In order to protect and minimize the negative effect of ionic species on micromotors’ performance, we coated the motors with methoxypolyethylene glycol amine (mPEG) showing higher speed compared to noncoated motors at intermediate ionic concentrations. These results provide new insights into the mechanism of urease-powered micromotors, study the effect of ionic media, and contribute with potential solutions to mitigate the reduction of mobility of enzyme-powered micromotors.

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Published date: 27 July 2020

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 448625
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/448625
PURE UUID: 885c1301-e09a-4ab4-b184-e3acb89a1968
ORCID for R Mestre: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2460-4234

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 28 Apr 2021 16:32
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:06

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Xavier Arqué
Author: Xavier Andrés
Author: R Mestre ORCID iD
Author: Bernard Ciraulo
Author: Jaime Arroyo-Ortega
Author: Romain Quidant
Author: Tania Patiño
Author: Samuel Sánchez

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×