Boffins create self-propelled polystyrene balls as wide as a human hair

Washington -- A team of British and Iranian physicists have created small self-propelled polystyrene balls as wide as a strand of human hair.

Researchers say the self-propelled nanoswimmers could navigate narrow channels such as the human circulatory system.

The researchers, led by Ramin Golestanian of the University of Sheffield, coated one side of each polystyrene ball with a thin layer of platinum before dropping them into a solution of hydrogen peroxide and water. Platinum catalyzes a reaction in which hydrogen peroxide breaks into oxygen and water.

Scientists said since the reaction spits out three molecules for every two that it consumes, the polystyrene ball is pushed from the platinum side. Objects as small as these polystyrene balls wander about randomly, a phenomenon known as Brownian motion.

To account for this, the platinum-coated balls were tested against polystyrene balls with no coating.

Findings revealed that over short distances, the half-coated balls moved in a particular direction although their paths meandered over longer distances.

The wanderings of the coated balls were also distinct from the Brownian motion of the uncoated balls. Their paths were a random walk with step sizes that depended on the concentration of hydrogen peroxide.

The findings appear in the forthcoming issue of Physical Review Letters. (ANI)