1. Academic Validation
  2. Macrophage-compatible magnetic achiral nanorobots fabricated by electron beam lithography

Macrophage-compatible magnetic achiral nanorobots fabricated by electron beam lithography

  • Sci Rep. 2022 Jul 29;12(1):13080. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-17053-x.
Teng Jiang  # 1 Xiaoxia Song  # 1 Xueliang Mu 2 U Kei Cheang 3 4 5
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
  • 2 Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
  • 3 Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China. cheanguk@sustech.edu.cn.
  • 4 Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Biomimetic Robotics and Intelligent Systems, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China. cheanguk@sustech.edu.cn.
  • 5 Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Human-Augmentation and Rehabilitation Robotics in Universities, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China. cheanguk@sustech.edu.cn.
  • # Contributed equally.
Abstract

With the development and progress of nanotechnology, the prospect of using nanorobots to achieve targeted drug delivery is becoming possible. Although nanorobots can potentially improve nano-drug delivery systems, there remains a significant challenge to fabricating magnetically controllable nanorobots with a size suitable for drug delivery in complex in vivo environments. Most of the current research focused on the preparation and functionalization of microscale and milliscale robots due to the relative difficulties in fabricating nanoscale robots. To address this problem and move towards in vivo applications, this study uses electron beam lithography to fabricate achiral planar L-shaped nanorobots that are biocompatible with immune cells. Their minimal planar geometry enabled nanolithography to fabricate nanorobots with a minimum feature size down to 400 nm. Using an integrated imaging and control system, the locomotive behavior of the L-shaped nanorobots in a fluidic environment was studied by examining their velocity profiles and trajectories. Furthermore, the nanorobots exhibit excellent cell compatibility with various types of cells, including macrophage cells. Finally, the long-term Cell Culture medium immersion test demonstrated that the L-shaped nanorobots have robust stability. This work will demonstrate the potential to use these nanorobots to operate in vivo without triggering immune cell responses.

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