Photocatalytic collection and degradation of microplastics by self-asymmetric Pac-Man TiO2

Microplastics are a significant environmental threat as they are not regularly monitored or removed and the lack of efficient removal techniques further amplifies this crisis. In this direction and many other environmental remediation processes, photocatalytic micro/nanomotors hold vast potential to remove and degrade micropollutants. Unifying the different properties of a photocatalytic micromotor (self-propulsion, phoretic assembly with passive colloids and photocatalytic oxidation of contaminants), we present highly scale-able, inherently-asymmetric Pac-Man TiO2 particles that can actively collect and degrade polystyrene microplastics.