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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Oct 25, 2025

Reconfigurable Microfluidic Channel with Pin-discretized Sidewalls

Reconfigurable Microfluidic Channel with Pin-discretized Sidewalls

Published on: April 12, 2018

Reconfigurable artificial microswimmers with internal feedback.

L Alvarez¹, M A Fernandez-Rodriguez^2,3, A Alegria⁴

¹Laboratory for Soft Materials and Interfaces, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. laura.alvarez-frances@mat.ethz.ch.

Nature Communications

|August 7, 2021

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers developed responsive microswimmers that adapt their movement using light. These synthetic microswimmers mimic biological adaptability at the colloidal scale, opening new avenues for active materials.

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Last Updated: Oct 25, 2025

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Area of Science:

Soft Matter Physics
Colloidal Science
Robotics

Background:

Biological microswimmers exhibit adaptive motility, a trait difficult to replicate in synthetic counterparts at the microscale.
Soft robotics allows for adaptation, but scaling this to colloidal systems remains a challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

To create responsive microswimmers capable of adapting their motility through internal reconfiguration.
To bridge the gap between biological microswimmer adaptation and soft robotic principles at the colloidal scale.

Main Methods:

Fabrication of deterministic colloidal clusters using sequential capillary assembly.
Incorporation of thermo-responsive microgels and light-absorbing particles into microswimmer design.
Utilizing light absorption to induce local heating and trigger microgel phase transitions.

Main Results:

Demonstrated light-induced adaptation of microswimmer motility via internal reconfiguration.
Observed coupling between electro-hydrodynamic propulsion and thermally induced changes in particle properties.
Achieved local dynamical control of microswimmer behavior using simple illumination patterns.

Conclusions:

Developed a novel strategy for creating adaptive microswimmers at the colloidal scale.
Showcased the potential of harnessing coupled physical phenomena for active material development.
Opened new possibilities for designing tactic active materials with light-controlled behaviors.