Cooperative chemotaxis of magnesium microswimmers for corrosion spotting

Ileana-Alexandra Pavel (1) , Gerardo Salinas (1) , Maciej Mierzwa (1) , Serena Arnaboldi (1) , Patrick A Garrigue (1) , Alexander Kuhn (2, 1)

1 ISM - Institut des Sciences Moléculaires
2 Bordeaux INP - Institut Polytechnique de Bordeaux

Numerous artificial micro-and nanomotors, as well as various swimmers have been inspired by living organisms that are able to move in a coordinated manner. Their cooperation has also gained a lot of attention because the resulting clusters are able to adapt to changes in their environment and to perform complex tasks. However, mimicking such a collective behavior remains a challenge. In the present work, magnesium microparticles are used as chemotactic swimmers with pronounced collective features, allowing the gradual formation of macroscopic agglomerates. The formed clusters act like a single swimmer able to follow pH gradients. This dynamic behavior can be used to spot in a straightforward way localized corrosion events. The autonomous docking of the swimmers to the corrosion site leads to the formation of a local protection layer, thus increasing corrosion resistance and triggering partial self-healing.

Domains: Chemical Sciences

Ileana-Alexandra Pavel, Gerardo Salinas, Maciej Mierzwa, Serena Arnaboldi, Patrick A Garrigue, et al.. Cooperative chemotaxis of magnesium microswimmers for corrosion spotting. ChemPhysChem, 2021, 22 (13), pp.1321-1325. ⟨10.1002/cphc.202100236⟩. ⟨hal-03516297⟩