1nm wide electric motor is ‘world’s smallest’

The 1nm device, developed by engineers at Tufts University, was made possible using a low temperature scanning tunneling microscope. The Tufts team believes it could offer advances in nanotechnology and medicine. "The excitement is in the demonstration that you can provide electricity to a single molecule and get it to do something that's not just random," said team leader Charles Sykes, an associate professor of chemistry in the School of Arts and Sciences. To create the device, Sykes and his team used the metal tip of the scanning tunneling microscope to provide an electrical charge to a butyl methyl sulfide molecule that had been placed on a copper surface. The molecule had a sulfur atom at the centre and carbon atoms radiating off to form two arms. Although mainstream application is likely to be a way off, the team remains hopeful that the motor could be used in sensing and medical test devices that involve tiny pipes. They are now looking to make breakthroughs in the temperatures at which the motor operates. It currently functions at a cool -450°F. "We will try and learn all we can about how these molecular motors work," noted Sykes. "That includes using different molecules, power sources and ways of attaching the molecules to surfaces. The goal of those efforts will be to understand the interactions and improve the motion." Sykes added that he and his colleagues will also study how the energy can be transferred to other molecules and make arrays of tiny cogs or gears on surfaces.