Cooperative Chemotaxis of Magnesium Microswimmers for Corrosion Spotting

Numerous artificial micro- and nanomotors, as well various swimmers have been inspired by living organisms that are able to move in a coordinated manner. Their cooperation has also gained lot of attention because the resulting clusters adapt changes their environment perform complex tasks. However, mimicking such collective behavior remains challenge. In present work, magnesium microparticles used chemotactic with pronounced features, allowing gradual formation macroscopic agglomerates. The formed act like single swimmer follow pH gradients. This dynamic can be spot localized corrosion events straightforward way. autonomous docking site leads local protection layer, thus increasing resistance triggering partial self-healing.