Speaker
Description
Photoactivated micro/nanomotors represent the next generation of self-propelled devices that can be easily actuated and controlled by using an external light source.1 Owing to their unique properties of photocatalytic-based systems —self-propelling as well as the generation of highly reactive radicals upon photoactivation— they have been widely explored for water cleaning and disinfection, wherein they have shown promising degradation rates.2,3 However, the selective oxidation of organic compounds remains a great technological challenge. Here, we introduce two strategies for enhancing the selective capture and oxidation of organic compounds based on surface modification by molecular polymer imprinting as well as magnetic actuation.4 The modified photocatalytic micromotors showed a selective oxidation of a specific pollutant from a complex liquid environment, resulting in higher pollutant removal rates compared to the unmodified ones. Moreover, the synergistic effect of combining optical and magnetic actuation for selectively generating phenol from benzene is also discussed.5 These approaches based on multifunctional photoresponsive micromotors hold promising applications in the fields of photocatalytic disinfection, water treatment, waste valorization and selective oxidation reactions.
References
[1] K. Villa, Chem. Commun. 59 (2023), 8375-8383, DOI:10.1039/D3CC01634J.
[2] K. Villa, et al. ACS Nano 13 (2019) 8135-8145, DOI:10.1021/acsnano.9b03184.
[3] X. Yuan, et al. Adv. Optical Mater. (2024), 2303137, DOI:10.1002/adom.202303137.
[4] X. Yuan, et al. Small 19 (2023), 2207303, DOI: 10.1002/smll.202207303.
[5] R. Ferrer et al. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2024, 16, 23, 30077–30087, DOI: 10.1021/acsami.4c03905.
