2D‐Material‐Integrated Micromachines: Competing Propulsion Strategy and Enhanced Bacterial Disinfection

Abstract

Abstract 2D transition‐metal‐dichalcogenide materials, such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) have received immense interest owing to their remarkable structure‐endowed electronic, catalytic, and mechanical properties for applications in optoelectronics, energy storage, and wearable devices. However, 2D materials have been rarely explored in the field of micro/nanomachines, motors, and robots. Here, MoS 2 with anatase TiO 2 is successfully integrated into an original one‐side‐open hollow micromachine, which demonstrates increased light absorption of TiO 2 ‐based micromachines to the visible region and the first observed motion acceleration in response to ionic media. Both experimentation and theoretical analysis suggest the unique type‐II bandgap alignment of MoS 2 /TiO 2 heterojunction that accounts for the observed unique locomotion owing to a competing propulsion mechanism. Furthermore, by leveraging the chemical properties of MoS 2 /TiO 2 , the micromachines achieve sunlight‐powered water disinfection with 99.999% Escherichia coli lysed in an hour. This research suggests abundant opportunities offered by 2D materials in the creation of a new class of micro/nanomachines and robots.