Fig. 2: Schematic representation of the buoyancy-driven shuttle gel made up of nanoporous organosilica particles (NOPs) and pNIPAM.
From: A self-regulating shuttle for autonomous seek and destroy of microplastics from wastewater
The NOPs serve multiple functions: they act as covalent cross-linking points within the hydrogel network, transport the porphyrin-based photosensitizer responsible for reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, and incorporate the propulsion unit that enables the autonomous ascent and descent of the gel.
