title: Magnetic polymer composite artificial bacterial flagella.
abstract: Artificial bacterial flagella (ABFs) are magnetically actuated swimming microrobots inspired by Escherichia coli bacteria, which use a helical tail for propulsion. The ABFs presented are fabricated from a magnetic polymer composite (MPC) containing iron-oxide nanoparticles embedded in an SU-8 polymer that is shaped into a helix by direct laser writing. The paper discusses the swim performance of MPC ABFs fabricated with varying helicity angles. The locomotion model presented contains the fluidic drag of the microrobot, which is calculated based on the resistive force theory. The robot's magnetization is approximated by an analytical model for a soft-magnetic ellipsoid. The helicity angle influences the fluidic and magnetic properties of the robot, and it is shown that weakly magnetized robots prefer a small helicity angle to achieve corkscrew-type motion.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Life Sciences, The University of Manchester, England. Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: K E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Peyer
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Siringil
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Nelson
mesh_terms: D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D032701:Biomimetics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D055119:Elastic Modulus / Q000502:physiology; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005407:Flagella / Q000502:physiology*; D058185:Magnetite Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D059346:Magnets; D055617:Micro-Electrical-Mechanical Systems / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008904:Miniaturization; D008954:Models, Biological; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D012371:Robotics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012767:Ships / Q000295:instrumentation; D013550:Swimming / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D058185:Magnetite Nanoparticles; D011108:Polymers