Molecular Imprinted BiVO4 Microswimmers for Selective Target Recognition and Removal

Abstract

AbstractAnalogous to photosynthetic systems, photoactive semiconductor‐based micro/nanoswimmers display biomimetic features that enable unique light harvesting and energy conversion functions and interactions with their surroundings. However, these artificial swimmers are usually non‐selective and provide ineffective target recognition, resulting in poor surface analyte binding that affects the overall reactivity and motion efficiency. Here, the surface engineering of light‐driven BiVO4 microswimmers by molecular imprinting polymerization is presented. After embedding surface recognition sites, the modified microswimmers can self‐propel in a solution of a target molecule, without requiring toxic fuels, and degrade the target selectively in a pollutant mixture. These findings show that optimizing the design of semiconductor‐based microswimmers with specific target recognition cavities on their surface is a promising strategy to achieve selective capture and degradation of organic pollutants, which is otherwise impossible because of the non‐selective behavior of photogenerated reactive radicals. Moreover, this study provides a unique strategy to enhance the motion capabilities of single‐component photocatalytic microswimmers in a specific chemical environment.