Swarming Responsive Photonic Nanorobots for Motile-Targeting Microenvironmental Mapping and Mapping-Guided Photothermal Treatment

Abstract

Highlights Responsive photonic nanorobots (RPNRs) simultaneously exhibit energetic magnetically-propelled swarming motions, bright stimuli-responsive structural colors, and photothermal conversion. The swarming RPNRs can actively navigate in complex environments and collectively map out local physicochemical conditions (e.g., pH, temperature, or glucose concentration) on the fly via their bright responsive structural colors. The swarming RPNRs can visualize an unknown target (e.g., tumor lesion) via motile-targeting mapping and then guide the external NIR light to initiate localized photothermal treatment.

Keywords

• Micro/nanorobots
• Collective behaviors
• Responsive photonic crystals
• On-the-fly sensing
• Photothermal therapy