Characterizing the swimming properties of artificial bacterial flagella.
Artificial bacterial flagella (ABFs) consist of helical tails resembling natural flagella fabricated by the self-scrolling of helical nanobelts and soft-magnetic heads composed of Cr/Ni/Au stacked thin films. ABFs are controlled wirelessly using a low-strength rotating magnetic field. Self-propelled devices such as these are of interest for in vitro and in vivo biomedical applications. Swimming tests of ABFs show a linear relationship between the frequency of the applied field and the translational velocity when the frequency is lower than the step-out frequency of the ABF. Moreover, the influences of head size on swimming velocity and the lateral drift of an ABF near a solid boundary are investigated. An experimental method to estimate the propulsion matrix of a helical swimmer under a light microscope is developed. Finally, swarm-like behavior of multiple ABFs controlled as a single entity is demonstrated.
Zhang
Li
L
Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, ETH Zurich, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland. lizhang@ethz.ch
Abbott
Jake J
JJ
Dong
Lixin
L
Peyer
Kathrin E
KE
Kratochvil
Bradley E
BE
Zhang
Haixin
H
Bergeles
Christos
C
Nelson
Bradley J
BJ
D002857:Chromium / Q000737:chemistry; D005407:Flagella / Q000737:chemistry*; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry; D008280:Magnetics; D008954:Models, Biological; D009532:Nickel / Q000737:chemistry; D013499:Surface Properties; D013550:Swimming
D002857:Chromium; D006046:Gold; D009532:Nickel