Scientists have designed a small robot fish that is programmed to remove microplastics from the seas and oceans by swimming around and adsorbing them onto a soft, flexible, self-healing body.
Microplastics are billions of small plastic particles that are fragmented by the larger plastic things used every day, such as water bottles, car tires and synthetic T-shirts. They are one of the biggest environmental problems of the 21st century, because once they are dispersed into the environment by breaking down larger plastics, it is very difficult to get rid of them by penetrating drinking water, produce and food, damaging environment and animals. and human health.
“It is important to develop a robot for accurate collection and sampling of harmful microplastic contaminants from the aquatic environment,” said Yuan Wang, a researcher at the Sichuan University Polymer Research Institute and one of the study’s lead authors. Her team’s new invention is described in a research paper in the journal Nano Letters. “As far as we know, this is the first example of such soft robots.”
Researchers at the University of Sichuan have discovered an innovative solution for tracking these pollutants when it comes to water pollution: designing a small self-propelled robot fish that can swim around, fasten it to free-floating microplastics and fix it if cut off or was damaged during his expedition.
The robo-fish is only 13 mm long and, thanks to a light laser system in its tail, swims and swings at almost 30 mm per second, similar to the speed at which plankton moves in moving water.
Researchers have created the robot from materials inspired by elements that thrive in the sea: mother-of-pearl, also known as mother-of-pearl, which is the inner covering of mussel shells. The team created a mother-of-pearl material by layering different microscopic sheets of molecules according to the specific chemical gradient of the mother-of-pearl.
This makes them a robot fish that is stretchable, flexible to twist and can even weigh up to 5 kg, according to the study. Most importantly, bionic fish can adsorb nearby free-floating pieces of microplastic, as the organic dyes, antibiotics, and heavy metals in microplastics have strong chemical bonds and electrostatic interactions with fish materials. This makes them stick to its surface so that the fish collect and remove microplastics from the water. “Once the robot collects the microplastics in the water, the researchers can further analyze the composition and physiological toxicity of the microplastics,” Wang said.
In addition, the newly created material also appears to have regenerative abilities, said Wang, who specializes in developing self-healing materials. Thus, the robot fish can heal up to 89% of its capacity and continue to adsorb even if it suffers some damage or cuts – which can happen often if it goes hunting for pollutants in rough waters.
This is just proof of the concept, Wang notes, and much more research is needed – especially on how this can be deployed in the real world. For example, the soft robot currently only works on water surfaces, so Wang’s team will soon be working on more functionally complex robot fish that can go deeper underwater. However, this bionic design could offer a launching pad for other similar projects, Wang said. “I think nanotechnology is very promising for adsorption of traces, collection and detection of pollutants, improving the effectiveness of the intervention while reducing operating costs.
In fact, nanotechnology will be one of the most important players in the fight against microplastics, according to Philip Democritus, director of the Center for the Study of Nanoscience and Contemporary Materials at Rutgers University, who was not involved in the study.
Democritus’ lab is also focusing on the use of nanotechnology to get rid of microplastics from the planet – but instead of cleaning them, they are working to replace them. This week, in the journal Nature Food, he announced the invention of a new plant-based spray coating that could serve as an environmentally friendly alternative to plastic food packaging. Their case showed that this starch-based fiber spray can repel pathogens and protect against transport damage just as well, if not better, than current plastic packaging options.
“The motto for the last 40 to 50 years for the chemical industry is: let’s make chemicals, let’s make materials, put them there and then clean up the mess 20 or 30 years later,” Democritus said. “This is not a sustainable model. So can we synthesize safer design materials? Can we extract materials from food waste as part of the circular economy and turn them into useful materials that we can use to deal with this problem?
This is a low-hanging fruit for nanotechnology, Democritus said, and as research into materials becomes better, a multifaceted approach to replacing plastic in our daily lives and filtering out microplastic residues from the environment will happen.
“But there is a big difference between invention and innovation,” Democritus said. “The invention is something no one has thought of yet. right? But innovation is something that will change people’s lives, because it leads to commercialization and can be scaled. “
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