• 文献标题:   Graphene-Based Microbots for Toxic Heavy Metal Removal and Recovery from Water
  • 文献类型:   Article
  • 作  者:   VILELA D, PARMAR J, ZENG YF, ZHAO YL, SANCHEZ S
  • 作者关键词:   graphene, heavy metal, microbot, catalytic microswimmer, wastewater treatment, metal recovery, environmental application
  • 出版物名称:   NANO LETTERS
  • ISSN:   1530-6984 EI 1530-6992
  • 通讯作者地址:   Max Planck Inst Intelligent Syst
  • 被引频次:   200
  • DOI:   10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b00768
  • 出版年:   2016

▎ 摘  要

Heavy metal contamination in water is a serious risk to the public health and other life forms on earth. Current research in nanotechnology is developing new nanosystems and nanomaterials for the fast and efficient removal of pollutants and heavy metals from water. Here, we report graphene oxide-based microbots (GOx-microbots) as active self-propelled systems for the capture, transfer, and removal of a heavy metal (i.e., lead) and its subsequent recovery for recycling purposes. Microbots' structure consists of nanosized multilayers of graphene oxide, nickel, and platinum, providing different functionalities. The outer layer of graphene oxide captures lead on the surface, and the inner layer of platinum functions as the engine decomposing hydrogen peroxide fuel for self-propulsion, while the middle layer of nickel enables external magnetic remove lead 10 times more efficiently than nonmotile GOx-microbots, cleaning water from 1000 ppb down to below 50 ppb in 60 min. Furthermore, after chemical detachment of lead from the surface of GOx-microbots, the microbots can be reused. Finally, we demonstrate the magnetic control of the GOx-microbots inside a microfluidic system as a proof-of-concept for automatic microbots-based system to remove and recover heavy metals.