Development of Moving Micro-Machines That Use Hydrogen Peroxide and Glucose as Fuels

We developed micro-machines constructed using metal or polymer materials that move by converting the chemical energy of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and glucose to the mechanical energy of dioxygen (O2) bubble impulses. The conversion process is based on electrochemical and enzymatic reactions. The micro-machines with enzymatic reactions exhibited a higher moving speed than the conventional micro-machines with electrochemical reactions. Our originally designed Au/Pt/cationic polymer/glucose oxidase (GOx)/catalase type micro-machines could move using glucose as fuel. However, the speed of movement achieved using glucose is much smaller compared with other micro-machines that move using H2O2 as fuel.