Catalytic micromotors: autonomous movement induced in chemically powered active soft oxometalates

Mallick, Apabrita (2015) Catalytic micromotors: autonomous movement induced in chemically powered active soft oxometalates. Masters thesis, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata.

PDF (MS dissertation of Apabrita Mallick (13IP004)) Apabrita_Mallick-13IP004.pdf - Submitted Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (2MB)

Abstract

Synthesis of autonomously moving micro or nanoscale objects is an immediate challenge in current nanoscience and nanotechnology. Although micro as well as nanomotors have been designed by various groups, in most cases their synthesis is tedious and their motion is relatively slow. In this work, we report a system based on soft-oxometalates (SOMs) which is very easy to synthesize, moves with a high velocity (~369 body lengths s-1) in response to chemical stimuli and also shows collective behaviour like school of fishes. We also explain in detail the reaction kinetics, adsorption phenomena and power conversion efficiency of these active soft materials using two different chemical fuels that exploit redox chemistry latent to SOMs.

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