Advanced materials and processes for magnetically driven micro- and nano-machines for biomedical application

Maxwell-Faraday equation and Lorentz force law have remarkable effects on technological innovations in the field of magnetically driven micro- and nano-machines. Here a remotely applied magnetic field provides the energy of motion, sensing capability and controlled directional guidance to a microscopic locomotive. These microscopic machines provide unprecedented technological breakthrough in biomedical field and non-invasive targeted treatment methods. This article presents detailed discussion about advanced materials, fabrication methods and magnetically assisted techniques for manipulating micro- and nano-scale robots, swimmers and core-shell nanovehicles for non-reciprocal movement in biological Newtonian fluids. Extensive discussion has been presented on the biological applications of the magnetically excited locomotive behaviour of these miniaturized machines such as crock-screw motion of helical and needle type microrobots for targeted drug delivery to tumor microtissues, wobbling and rolling motion of peanut shaped hematite colloid micromotor for single fibroblast cell manipulation, propulsion mechanism of microrobots similar to sperm cell motion, walking micromachine for microsurgery of cancer cells and magnetic field modulated movement of core-shell magnetoelectric nanorobots to electroporate, permeate or transport a targeted human epithelial cell. This review is a unique and extensive discussion about the latest innovative and magnetically assisted swiftest techniques of targeted drug delivery, cell migration, bio-molecule delivery, tumour cell detection, and in vitro experiments to solve significant hurdles in medical science and treatment methods. © 2022 The Author(s)