World's Smallest and Fastest Nanomotor to Date May Power Miniature Machines

Scientists have created the world's smallest, fastest and longest-running nanomotor to date. The synthetic motor is an important step when it comes to developing miniature machines in the future.

It's possible that using a nanomotor, scientists may be able to construct tiny machines that could move through the body to administer insulin for diabetics when needed, or even target and treating cancer cells without harming good cells. That's why scientists decided to attempt to create something that could power these miniature devices.

The researchers designed, assembled and tested a high-performance nanomotor. The device itself has dimensions that are all under 1 micrometer in size. In fact, the nanomotor could fit inside a human cell, and is capable of rotating for 15 continuous hours at a speed of 18,000 RPMs, which is the speed of a motor in a jet airplane engine.

The researchers managed to address two major issues for nanomotors in their new study: assembly and controls. The researchers employed a technique that relies on AC and DC electric fields to assemble the nanomotor's parts one by one. This method allowed them to turn the nanomotors on and off and propel the rotation. In order to test it, the scientists coated the nanomotor's surface with biochemical and initiated spinning to see if it could release the drugs; it could-and the faster it spun, the faster the drugs were released.

"We were able to establish and control the molecule release rate by mechanical rotation, which means our nanomotor is the first of its kind for controlling the release of drugs from the surface of nanoparticles," said Donglei Fan, one of the researchers, in a news release. "We believe it will help advance the study of drug delivery and cell-to-cell communications."

The findings are the right step in the direction of creating miniature machines. In the future, tiny machines could be powered by similar nanomotors.

The findings are published in the journal Nature Communications.