Arben Merkoçi – Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ICN2)

The group led by Prof. Merkoçi developed a graphene oxide rolled-up tube production process that uses wax-printed membranes for the fabrication of on-demand engineered micromotors at different levels of oxidation, thickness, and lateral dimensions. Using this technology the graphene oxide rolledup tubes have shown magnetic and catalytic movement within the addition of magnetic nanoparticles or sputtered platinum in the surface of graphene-oxide-modified wax-printed membranes prior to the scrolling process. As a proof of concept, the authors have shown that the as-prepared catalytic graphene oxide rolled-up micromotors are successfully exploited for oil removal from water. This micromotor production technology relies on an easy, operator-friendly, fast, and cost-efficient waxprinted paper-based method and may offer a myriad of hybrid devices and applications. The developed technology may open the way of simple micromotors fabrication using other 2D materials for various applications.

Reference

Baptista-Pires L, Orozco J, Guardia P & Merkoci A 2018, ‘Architecting Graphene Oxide Rolled-Up Micromotors: A Simple Paper-Based Manufacturing Technology’, Small, 14, 3, UNSP 1702746.