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Papers
61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Nano revolution: pioneering the future of water reclamation with micro-/nano-robots
ClearSmart micro- and nanorobots for water purification
This review explores the use of tiny self-propelled micro- and nanorobots as a new approach to water purification. These programmable synthetic robots can actively seek out and interact with pollutants including microplastics, heavy metals, and organic contaminants, overcoming the limitations of passive treatment methods. The technology represents a promising frontier for more targeted and efficient water remediation.
Recent Advancements in Multimodal Chemically Powered Micro/Nanorobots for Environmental Sensing and Remediation
This review covers recent developments in chemically powered micro- and nanorobots designed for environmental sensing and pollution cleanup. Researchers describe how these tiny self-propelling machines can detect and capture pollutants including microplastics, heavy metals, and organic contaminants in water. The study highlights the potential of nanorobot technology as an emerging tool for environmental remediation, though challenges in scalability and real-world deployment remain.
Micro/nanorobots for efficient removal and degradation of micro/nanoplastics
This paper reviews how tiny self-propelled robots at the micro and nanoscale could be used to capture and remove microplastics from water. These robots can be designed to target specific types of plastic particles and move through water on their own, offering advantages over traditional filtration methods. While still in early development, this technology could eventually provide a practical way to reduce microplastic contamination in drinking water and aquatic environments.
Micro/Nanorobotics in Environmental Water Governance: Nanoengineering Strategies for Pollution Control
This review examines advances in micro- and nanorobotics for environmental water treatment, including their use in degrading microplastics, organic pollutants, and harmful microorganisms. Researchers highlight the potential of photocatalytic, magnetic, and self-propelled robotic systems to provide more precise and sustainable alternatives to traditional water treatment methods. The study also acknowledges challenges in scalability and cost-effectiveness that need to be addressed before widespread adoption.
Nano/Microplastics Capture and Degradation by Autonomous Nano/Microrobots: A Perspective
This perspective article explores how tiny self-propelled nano- and microrobots could be used to capture and break down microplastic and nanoplastic particles in water. Researchers reviewed recent advances showing these autonomous robots can efficiently collect plastic particles through enhanced physical interactions as they move through contaminated water. The technology represents a promising but still early-stage approach to actively cleaning up plastic pollution at scales too small for conventional methods.
Micro/nanorobots for remediation of water resources and aquatic life
Not relevant to microplastics — this review covers micro/nanorobot technologies for water pollution control, focusing on propulsion methods and decontamination mechanisms for biological and chemical pollutants broadly, with only passing mention of plastics.
Remediation of micro- and nanoplastics by robotic technology: Performance, critical factors and marketing barriers
This review examines how micro- and nano-robotic technologies can be used to target and remove microplastic and nanoplastic particles from water. Researchers evaluated the performance of various robotic systems powered by light, magnetic fields, or chemical reactions, and found they show promise for precise pollutant removal at small scales. The study identifies cost-effectiveness and scaling up from laboratory to real-world applications as the main barriers to commercialization.
Are micro/nanorobots an effective solution to eliminate micro/nanoplastics in water/wastewater treatment plants?
Researchers reviewed micro/nanorobots as an emerging strategy for removing microplastics from water, finding that while these tiny magnetically or optically driven devices can capture particles through electrostatic interactions, their high cost, fuel dependence, low plastic degradation efficiency, and risk of secondary pollution currently limit practical deployment.
Untethered Micro/Nanorobots for Remote Sensing: Toward Intelligent Platform
Researchers reviewed recent advances in tiny wirelessly-controlled robots (micro/nanorobots) designed to detect substances in complex environments, such as inside the body or in contaminated water, using motion, light, and chemical signals for sensing. These miniature devices could eventually enable real-time detection of pollutants like microplastics or disease markers in places that conventional sensors cannot reach.
Self-propelled micro/nanomotors for removal of insoluble water contaminants: microplastics and oil spills
This frontier review examines the capabilities of self-propelled micro/nanomotors for removing oil spills and plastic-based pollutants from water, discussing working mechanisms, current limitations, and future research directions for deploying these autonomous systems in environmental remediation.
Nano-Engineering for Clean Water Solutions
Scientists have reviewed how tiny engineered particles (nanotechnology) can help clean water by removing dangerous pollutants like heavy metals, leftover medicines, and microplastics that traditional filters often miss. These nano-scale materials work better than current methods because they can target specific contaminants and use less energy. While this technology shows great promise for providing safer drinking water worldwide, researchers still need to study whether these tiny particles themselves might be harmful to people or the environment.
Emerging micropollutants in aquatic ecosystems and nanotechnology-based removal alternatives: A review
This review examines emerging micropollutants in water systems, including microplastics, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and heavy metals, and how nanotechnology-based approaches can help remove them. These contaminants threaten drinking water safety and aquatic ecosystems worldwide. The paper evaluates various nanomaterial-based filtration and degradation methods as promising solutions for cleaning up contaminated water.
Emerging Roles of Microrobots for Enhancing the Sensitivity of Biosensors
This review explores how microrobots are being developed to enhance the sensitivity of biosensors for medical diagnostics and environmental monitoring. Researchers describe how the controlled movement of these tiny robots can actively concentrate target molecules, overcoming the limitations of passive diffusion-based sensing. The study notes that microrobots also show potential for tasks like microplastic removal from water, though this application is still in early stages.
Developments in the Application of Nanomaterials for Water Treatment and Their Impact on the Environment
This review covers the application of nanomaterials for water treatment and remediation, evaluating how nanomaterial properties enable removal of pollutants including heavy metals, organic contaminants, and microplastics. It surveys the current state of research and discusses practical challenges for scaling up nanomaterial-based water treatment.
Nanomaterials for microplastics remediation in wastewater: A viable step towards cleaner water
This review examines how nanomaterials, tiny engineered particles with high surface area and reactivity, can be used to remove microplastics from water more effectively than traditional methods like filtration and sedimentation. While promising, these technologies face challenges including high production costs, potential toxicity of the nanomaterials themselves, and difficulty scaling up from lab to real-world applications. Improving these methods is important because current water treatment often fails to remove the smallest and most harmful microplastic particles.
Tiny robots catch bacteria, microplastics in water
Researchers developed magnetically controlled microbots under 3 micrometers in diameter -- fabricated from Dynabeads coated with polymer strands -- that can capture both free-swimming bacteria and microplastics in water, offering a novel remediation approach for two distinct categories of aquatic contaminants.
Reconfigurable Magnetic Liquid Metal Microrobots: A Regenerable Solution for the Capture and Removal of Micro/Nanoplastics
Scientists developed magnetically controlled liquid metal microrobots that can capture and remove micro- and nanoplastics from water. The tiny robots can change shape, be steered with magnets, and be regenerated for reuse, offering a potential new technology for cleaning plastic pollution from water sources before it reaches people.
Harnessing Nanomaterials for Water Decontamination: Insights into Environmental Impact, Sustainable Applications, and the Emerging Role of Polymeric Nanostructures
This review examines how nanomaterials can be used for water decontamination, including the removal of microplastics from aquatic environments. Researchers found that properties like large surface area and high reactivity make nanomaterials effective at addressing water pollution, though concerns remain about the environmental persistence and potential secondary effects of the nanomaterials themselves.
Magnetic Microrobot Swarms with Polymeric Hands Catching Bacteria and Microplastics in Water
Scientists developed tiny magnetic robots with polymer coatings that can swarm together and capture both bacteria and microplastics from water. The robots self-assemble into rotating formations when exposed to magnetic fields, effectively sweeping up contaminants as they move. This technology offers a promising new approach for cleaning microplastics from water supplies, which could help reduce human exposure to these pollutants.
Propulsion Mechanisms in Magnetic Microrobotics: From Single Microrobots to Swarms
This review examines the propulsion mechanisms of magnetic microrobots, from individual units to coordinated swarms, including their structural design and control methods. Researchers discuss how these tiny robots can be directed using external magnetic fields for tasks like targeted drug delivery and water purification. The technology has potential applications for environmental cleanup, including removing microplastics and other pollutants from water.
Self-driven magnetorobots for recyclable and scalable micro/nanoplastic removal from nonmarine waters
Researchers developed self-driven magnetorobots using magnetizable ion-exchange resin spheres that can dynamically remove micro- and nanoplastics from nonmarine waters, overcoming limitations of conventional chemical flocculation and physical filtration methods.
Micromachines for Microplastics Treatment
This review summarizes advances in micro- and nanomotor devices for microplastic removal from aquatic environments, describing how these tiny machines can be powered by chemical fuels or light to propel themselves and capture or degrade plastic particles. The authors identify scalability and environmental safety as key challenges for transitioning from laboratory demonstrations to real-world applications.
Low-Energy Photoresponsive Magnetic-Assisted Cleaning Microrobots for Removal of Microplastics in Water Environments
Researchers developed tiny light-powered magnetic microrobots that can actively seek out and collect microplastics from water, achieving 98% removal efficiency in under two minutes. The microrobots can be guided using magnetic fields and recovered for reuse, making the approach both effective and eco-friendly. This technology could eventually help clean microplastics from water sources before they reach people, though it is still at the laboratory stage.
Magnetic Nanostructures for the Removal of Emerging Organic and Inorganic Pollutants: An Overview of Applications in Contaminated Water
Scientists have developed tiny magnetic particles that can remove up to 99% of harmful chemicals and heavy metals from contaminated water in lab tests. This research review shows these magnetic "nano-cleaners" can pull out dangerous pollutants like pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and toxic metals like lead, then be easily removed from the water using magnets. While still being tested in laboratories, this technology could eventually help create cleaner drinking water and reduce human exposure to health-threatening contaminants.