Nanoplastic pollution, the final product of plastic waste fragmentation in the environment, represents an increasing concern for the scientific community due to the easier diffusion and higher hazard associated with their small sizes. Therefore, there is a pressing demand for effective strategies to quantify and remove nanoplastics in wastewater. This work presents the "on-the-fly" capture of nanoplastics in the three-dimensional (3D) space by multifunctional MXene-derived oxide microrobots and their further detection. A thermal annealing process is used to convert Ti3C2Tx MXene into photocatalytic multi-layered TiO2, followed by the deposition of a Pt layer and the decoration with magnetic γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles. The MXene-derived γ-Fe2O3/Pt/TiO2 microrobots show negative photogravitaxis, resulting in a powerful fuel-free motion with six degrees of freedom under light irradiation. Owing to the unique combination of self-propulsion and programmable Zeta potential, the microrobots can quickly attract and trap nanoplastics on their surface, including the slits between multi-layer stacks, allowing their magnetic collection. Utilized as self-motile preconcentration platforms, they enable nanoplastics' electrochemical detection using low-cost and portable electrodes. This proof-of-concept study paves the way toward the "on-site" screening of nanoplastics in water and its successive remediation.

Center for Advanced Functional Nanorobots Department of Inorganic Chemistry Faculty of Chemical Technology University of Chemistry and Technology Prague Technická 5 166 28 Prague Czech Republic

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Yonsei University 50 Yonsei ro Seodaemun gu Seoul 03722 Korea

Department of Medical Research China Medical University Hospital China Medical University No 91 Hsueh Shih Road Taichung Taiwan

Future Energy and Innovation Laboratory Central European Institute of Technology Brno University of Technology Purkyňova 123 61200 Brno Czech Republic

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Nat Nanotechnol. 2022 Aug;17(8):821. doi: 10.1038/s41565-022-01199-w. PubMed

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