Precise control of the motion of micromachines is the key to achieving their functions for practical applications. The main challenge is that a given micromachine can typically exhibit only one motion mode, i.e. translation or rotation, while multiple modes of motion resulting from a simple actuation is still rare. Here we designed and synthesized photochemically powered zinc oxide/gold (ZnO/Au) rods that exhibit multiple motion modes. Under homogenous UV irradiation, these ZnO/Au rods undergo a transition from ballistic motion to persistent rotational motion upon increasing the fuel concentration or the light intensity. In addition, the rods can switch modes from a circular motion to a helical motion, and then a straight-line motion by tuning the angle of incident light. We envision that such attractive colloidal micromachines with controllable motions hold considerable promise for diverse practical applications.

中文翻译：

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电机和转子合二为一：可调运动模式的光活性 ZnO/Au 孪晶棒

对微机械运动的精确控制是实现其实际应用功能的关键。主要挑战是给定的微型机器通常只能表现出一种运动模式，即平移或旋转，而由简单驱动产生的多种运动模式仍然很少见。在这里，我们设计并合成了具有多种运动模式的光化学动力氧化锌/金 (ZnO/Au) 棒。在均匀的紫外线照射下，随着燃料浓度或光强度的增加，这些 ZnO/Au 棒会经历从弹道运动到持续旋转运动的转变。此外，杆可以通过调整入射光的角度将模式从圆周运动转换为螺旋运动，然后是直线运动。