Performance of Tubular Micromotors in Real Sewage for Water Treatment: Towards a Practical Scenario

The application of micro/nanomotors as active cleaners for environmental remediation including pollutant degradation has been an ongoing scientific frontier. However, most of previous studies were conducted by using simulated sewage configured in the laboratory rather than real sewage discharged from industries. In this work, we prepared classical bubble-propelled SiO₂−Pt tubular micromotors and for the first time studied their motion behaviours in real sewage. We clarified the effect of the pollutants in sewage on the movement performance of the micromotors. Besides, the SiO₂−Pt tubular micromotors were functionalized with Fe₃O₄ to result in SiO₂−Pt−Fe₃O₄, whose ability to degrade typical pollutant (methylene blue) in sewage solution was accessed. The results show that the degrading ability of the SiO₂−Pt−Fe₃O₄ micromotors in sewage solution is far weaker than that in deionized water. This work will provide an important reference for further exploration on using MNMs for environmental applications in realistic scenarios.