Sub-Micrometer Light-Powered Nanobots Hunt Bacteria
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- University of Würzburg researchers led by Professor Bert Hecht shrunk their light-driven microdrones to less than one micrometer — about 50 times smaller than a human hair's diameter — and demonstrated that the devices can navigate liquid, capture bacteria, and release them at chosen locations.
- The microdrones carry up to four plasmonic nanoantennas that absorb light of a specific color and helicity and re-emit it directionally; recoil from each emitted photon propels the device, while built-in nanoscale antenna wires align with light polarization to steer it.
- Lead experimental scientist Jin Qin said the team built "a light-driven nanorobot that can track down and collect bacteria," describing the bots as "microscopic cleaning devices" capable of extremely fast 90° turns for organized area scanning.
- The robots remain maneuverable while carrying substantial numbers of bacteria, though their speed decreases under the added load, and they can selectively capture, transport, and release microbes at designated spots.
- Published in Nature Communications as "A nanoscale robotic cleaner" (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-70685-9), the work points to potential applications in microbiology, biomedical research, and precise manipulation of materials at the microscopic scale.
Why it matters: Researchers can now physically capture, transport, and release individual bacteria at sub-micrometer scale, addressing what the source calls a 'persistent challenge' in precisely controlling microscopic objects. The technology gives microbiology and biomedical labs a new tool for directly manipulating microbial targets that were previously too small to handle by other means.
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