title: Utilizing Iron's Attractive Chemical and Magnetic Properties in Microrocket Design, Extended Motion, and Unique Performance.
abstract: All-in-one material for microrocket propulsion featuring acid-based bubble generation and magnetic guidance is presented. Electrochemically deposited iron serves as both a propellant, toward highly efficient self-propulsion in acidic environments, and as a magnetic component enabling complete motion control. The new microrockets display longer lifetime and higher propulsion efficiency compared to previously reported active metal zinc-based microrockets due to the chemical properties of iron and the unique structure of the microrockets. These iron-based microrockets also demonstrate unique and attractive cargo towing and autonomous release capabilities. The latter is realized upon loss of the magnetic properties due to acid-driven iron dissolution. More interestingly, these bubble-propelled microrockets assemble via magnetic interactions into a variety of complex configurations and train structures, which enrich the behavior of micromachines. Modeling of the magnetic forces during the microrocket assembly and cargo capture confirms these unique experimentally observed assembly and cargo-towing behaviors. These findings provide a new concept of blending propellant and magnetic components into one, toward simplifying the design and fabrication of artificial micro/nanomachines, realizing new functions and capabilities for a variety of future applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nanoengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Emil
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Karshalev
authors.affiliation: Department of Nanoengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Chuanrui
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Nanoengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Gregor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Marolt
authors.affiliation: Department of Nanoengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Aída
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martín
authors.affiliation: Department of Nanoengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Isaac
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.affiliation: Department of Nanoengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Roxanne
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Castillo
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Tianlong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Nanoengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: assembly; bubble propulsion; cargo release; iron; magnetic guidance; micromachines