One-Molecule Nanocar Takes a Test Drive 51
MrSeb writes "Just a couple of months after nanoengineers at Tufts University developed an 18-atom single-molecule electric motor, researchers from the University of Twente in the Netherlands have gone one better: They've made a car using just a single molecule. To create the vehicle, Tibor Kudernac and colleagues crafted a molecule with a long body and four 'paddle' (wheel) features attached at each corner. The molecule was created with a bottom-up process, where each part of the molecule is gently slotted together. By applying tiny amounts of electricity with a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to the finished vehicle, the wheels are forced to make a quarter turn. The wheels naturally take another quarter turn to restore equilibrium — and then the STM starts the process all over again. The end result is very slow forward movement — six nanometers per 10 electric pulses."
Re:!(1 molecule 18 atoms) (Score:3, Informative)
1 molecule does not imply that it is less than 18 atoms. From looking at the fucking article I can see that they have used much more than 18 atoms. Fuck this shitpost.
You have zero reading comprehension skills. The summary said they "did one better" because it's an entire "car" from a single molecule, as opposed to just a "motor" from a single molecule.
Nature letter (Score:4, Informative)
I think this is the actual article [nature.com](paywalled), in case anyone else is wondering about the details & has access to the journal.