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NANOMOTORS

Hofmeister interaction in the driver’s seat

Nature Nanotechnology volume 14, pages 1091–1092 (2019)Cite this article

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The self-propulsion direction of enzyme-loaded liposomes is controlled by the activity of the ions in solution.

Chemotaxis refers to an organism’s ability to move in a certain direction in response to a chemical gradient. This ability is ubiquitous in nature. Chemotaxis is essential for the survival of bacteria, algae and other microorganisms, for instance to move towards food sources1, and for many physiological processes, such as the healing of wounds2 and the metastasis of tumours3. Over the last decade, scientists have made artificial microswimmers that mimic the behaviour of bacteria and algae. These swimmers harvest energy from the environment and self-propel in solution4,5. A particularly attractive application of this technology is for targeted drug delivery6,7. Motivated by this prospect, scientists have developed artificial chemotactic systems propelled by Au–Pt bimetal catalytic nanomotors or enzymes, which show directional migration towards the higher substrate concentration8. Now, reporting in Nature Nanotechnology, Somasundar et al. have shown that the Hofmeister effect may be exploited to control the chemotaxis direction of an enzyme-powered liposome nanomotor9.

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Fig. 1: The Hofmeister effect.

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  1. Department of Chemistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Jinyao Tang

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  1. Jinyao Tang
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Correspondence to Jinyao Tang.

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Tang, J. Hofmeister interaction in the driver’s seat. Nat. Nanotechnol. 14, 1091–1092 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-019-0581-0

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