Advanced Functional Materials · 2026 Cover Feature
Near-Infrared Light-Driven Zn/Au Janus Micromotors for Multiplex SERS Detection of Anticancer Drugs
In brief
We made microscopic zinc spheres half-coated in gold that swim when hit by near-infrared light. The gold side also works as a sensor, picking up the chemical fingerprints of two anticancer drugs, methotrexate and 6-mercaptopurine. Their motion stirs the surrounding liquid, which makes detecting both drugs at once more reliable: a step toward tiny, self-propelled diagnostic tools.

Cover Feature
Featured on the cover of
Advanced Functional Materials
Volume 36 · Issue 58
Abstract
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Janus Zn/Au micromotors (MMs) are fabricated by sputtering Au onto one hemisphere of Zn microparticles, resulting in spherical light-responsive structures with dual photothermal propulsion and SERS detection capabilities. Zn/Au MMs exhibit efficient propulsion under near-infrared (NIR) light, with motion driven through thermophoretic effects induced by local heating of the Au surface. The MMs are activated by CARS microscopy, enabling label-free, real-time trajectory tracking, with propulsion velocities increasing linearly with total laser power and remaining largely independent of the pump wavelength within the NIR range (780–900 nm) under dual-wavelength excitation. A 30 nm Au coating provides the optimal balance between optical absorption and propulsion efficiency, while independent modulation of the pump and Stokes beams confirms that dual-beam excitation is essential for sustained motion. Zn/Au MMs work perfectly as active SERS platforms for single and multiplex detection of the anticancer drugs methotrexate (MTX) and 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP). Their active motion enhances analyte exchange at the Au surface, reducing affinity-driven saturation and competitive adsorption effects, which broadens the linear range and improves multiplex SERS detection. The integration of autonomous motion with chemometrics models, including partial least squares-discrimination analysis (PLS-DA) on the obtained SERS data, represents a promising step toward MM-based diagnostic systems.
Cite
Maric, T., Soufi, G., Li, Z., Chica, E., Ali, A.A., Al-Roubaï, N., Ahmed, N., Göksel, Y. & Boisen, A. (2026). Near-Infrared Light-Driven Zn/Au Janus Micromotors for Multiplex SERS Detection of Anticancer Drugs. Advanced Functional Materials, 36(58), e75935. https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.75935