Nanomotor

From ArticleWorld

A nanomotor is a nanotechnology-based device, operating at a molecular level, and which is capable of effecting forces of the order of piconewtons. Energy acquired by a nanomotor can thus be converted into motion at the molecular level.

Nanomotors and biochemistry

It has been proposed by nanotechnology-based scientists to integrate molecular motor proteins that occur in living cells into molecular motors for other purposes. These molecular motors, or ‘nanomotors’ as they are dubbed, can be implanted in artificial devices to perform much the same functions that their living-cell counterparts perform. Such a motor protein developed can be able to move required ‘objects’ within the device.

If successfully applied, nanomotors could become an important component of the now-nascent field of nanotechnology.

An important way of controlling particles and to measure the fundamental properties of individual nanoparticles is by the production and use of nanomotors. They are a powerful means by which rheological nanoenvironments and biomolecular motors can be investigated. Factors that affect movement speeds of nanomotors include the torque magnitude involved and the viscosity of the surrounding medium. Biotechnologists have observed that every unique organism can have specific nanomotors. Each of these nanomotors can be evolved through a set of stages to perform transporting functions at the molecular level, across cell membranes in living tissue.