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Updated: Nov 16, 2025

Cargo Loading onto Kinesin Powered Molecular Shuttles
Published on: November 3, 2010
'Sweeping rods': cargo transport by self-propelled bimetallic microrods moving perpendicular to their long axis
Alina Arslanova1, Venkateshwar Rao Dugyala2, Erwin Konrad Reichel3
1Department of Chemical Engineering, KU Leuven, Leuven 3001, Belgium. christian.clasen@kuleuven.be.
Abstract:
A possible application of self-propelling particles is the transport of microscopic cargo. Maximizing the collection and transport efficiency of particulate matter requires the area swept by the moving particle to be as large as possible. One such particle geometry are rods propelled perpendicular to their long axis, that act as "sweepers" for collecting particles. Here we report on the required Janus coating to achieve such motion, and on the dynamics of the collection and transport of microscopic cargo by sideways propelled Janus rods.
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