Nanostructures in motion: chemical motors and nanorobotic systems

8th May 2025

Timing : 1 pm ET

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For a list of all talks at the NanoBio seminar Series Spring'25, see here


Microorganisms can move in complex media, respond to the environment and self-organize. The field of nano- and microrobotics takes inspiration from nature and strives to achieve these functions in synthetic systems. However, building synthetic motors and machines ‘bottom up’ such that they can mimic biological matter and function autonomously or such that they can be controlled externally, is challenging. Symmetry-breaking appears to be a pre-requisite for achieving many interesting functions including locomotion, but is difficult to realize with most colloidal and molecular systems. I will discuss how one can nevertheless obtain motion in engineered micro- and nanosystems. A physical vapor deposition process is described that permits us to obtain large numbers of designer micro- and nanostructures with defined shape and material composition. These enable a number of applications, including as nanopropellers that can penetrate biological tissue, and as self-propelled autonomous chemical nanomotors. How one may achieve and control propulsion with magnetic, electric, acoustic and chemical fields is discussed, as well as aspects of biocompatibility and potential applications in the field of targeted delivery.



Snow
Dr. Peer Fischer
Professor of Experimental Physics
Heidelberg University
Germany

Peer Fischer is a Professor of Experimental Physics (Molecular Systems Engineering) at Heidelberg University and he heads the independent Micro Nano and Molecular Systems Lab at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, Germany. He is also a Global Faculty member of the Advanced Science Institute and the Institute for Basic Science Center for NanoMedicine (IBS CNM) at Yonsei University, South Korea. Peer Fischer received a BSc. degree in Physics from Imperial College London and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. He was a NATO (DAAD) Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University, before joining the Rowland Institute at Harvard. At Harvard he held a Rowland Fellowship and directed an interdisciplinary research lab for five years. In 2009 he received an Attract Award from the Fraunhofer Society which led him to set up a photonics lab at the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques in Freiburg. From 2011-2022 he headed the MPG research group at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, and from 2013-2022 he was a Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Stuttgart. In 2022 he moved his labs to Heidelberg University and the MPI for medical Research. Prof. Peer Fischer won an ERC Grant in 2011 and a World Technology Award in 2016. He received an ERC Advanced Grant in 2018. He is a member of the Max Planck – EPFL Center for Molecular Nanoscience and Technology, and the cluster of excellence 3D Matter Made to Order (3DMM2O). Peer Fischer is a Founding Editorial Board Member of the journal Science Robotics and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Professor Fischer has broad research interests including 3D nanofabrication & assembly, micro- and nano-robotics, active matter, interaction of optical, electric, magnetic, and acoustic fields with matter at small length scales, chirality, and molecular systems engineering.