Microswimmer

A microswimmer is a microscopic object with the ability to move in a fluid environment. Natural microswimmers are found everywhere in the natural world as biological microorganisms, such as bacteria, archaea, protists, sperm and microanimals. Since the turn of the millennium there has been increasing interest in manufacturing synthetic and biohybrid microswimmers. Although only two decades have passed since their emergence, they have already shown promise for various biomedical and environmental applications.

Given the recent nature of the field, there is yet no consensus in the literature for the nomenclature of the microscopic objects this article refers to as "microswimmers". Among the many alternative names such objects are given in the literature, microswimmers, micro/nanorobots and micro/nanomotors are likely the most frequently encountered. Other common terms may be more descriptive, including information about the object shape, e.g., microtube or microhelix, its components, e.g., biohybrid, spermbot, bacteriabot, or micro-bio-robot, or behavior, e.g., microrocket, microbullet, microtool or microroller. Researchers have also named their specific microswimmers e.g., medibots, hairbots, iMushbots, IRONSperm, teabots, biobots, T-budbots, or MOFBOTS.