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  • Enzyme‐Photocatalyst Tandem...
    Villa, Katherine; Sopha, Hanna; Zelenka, Jaroslav; Motola, Martin; Dekanovsky, Lukas; Beketova, Darya Chylii; Macak, Jan M.; Ruml, Tomáš; Pumera, Martin

    Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany), 09/2022, Letnik: 18, Številka: 36
    Journal Article

    Urinary‐based infections affect millions of people worldwide. Such bacterial infections are mainly caused by Escherichia coli (E. coli) biofilm formation in the bladder and/or urinary catheters. Herein, the authors present a hybrid enzyme/photocatalytic microrobot, based on urease‐immobilized TiO2/CdS nanotube bundles, that can swim in urea as a biocompatible fuel and respond to visible light. Upon illumination for 2 h, these microrobots are able to remove almost 90% of bacterial biofilm, due to the generation of reactive radicals, while bare TiO2/CdS photocatalysts (non‐motile) or urease‐coated microrobots in the dark do not show any toxic effect. These results indicate a synergistic effect between the self‐propulsion provided by the enzyme and the photocatalytic activity induced under light stimuli. This work provides a photo‐biocatalytic approach for the design of efficient light‐driven microrobots with promising applications in microbiology and biomedicine. Biohybrid enzyme/photocatalyst‐based microrobot structure for the efficient removal of a bacterial biofilm is presented. TiO2 nanotube bundles are decorated with CdS nanoparticles and enzyme urease. This design provides a strategy for developing advanced photoresponsive microrobots with improved catalytic activity, offering great potential for the future applications of micromachines.