World's Smallest, Fastest Motor Developed

Washington: Scientists have developed the world's smallest, fastest and longest-running tiny synthetic   motor to date that can fit inside a cell and spin as fast as a jet engine. The nanomotor is an important step towards developing miniature machines that could one day move through the body to  administer insulin for diabetics when needed, or target and treat cancer cells without harming good cells, said researchers. Engineers from the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin focused on building a reliable, ultra-high-speed nanomotor that can convert electrical energy   into mechanical motion on a scale 500 times smaller than a grain of salt. Mechanical engineering assistant professor Donglei ‘Emma’  

Fan led a team of researchers in the successful design, assembly and testing of the high-performing nanomotor in a non-biological setting. The team's three-part nanomotor can rapidly mix and pump   bio-chemicals and move through liquids, which is important for   future applications. Fan and her team are the first to achieve the extremely difficult goal of designing a nanomotor with large driving power. With all its dimensions under 1 micrometer in size, the nanomotor could fit inside a human cell and is capable of rotating for 15 continuous hours at a speed of 18,000 RPM, the speed of a motor in a jet airplane engine. Comparable nanomotors run significantly more slowly, from 14 RPM to 500 RPM, and have only rotated for a few seconds up to a few minutes.  

Researchers believe their nanomotors could provide a new approach to controlled biochemical drug delivery to live   cells. To test its ability to release drugs, the researchers coated the nanomotor's surface with biochemicals and initiated spinning. They found that the faster the nanomotor rotated, the faster it released the drugs. "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," Fan said. 

We believe it will help advance the study of drug delivery and cell-to-cell communications," added more. The technique relies on AC and DC electric fields to assemble the nanomotor's parts one by one. In experiments, the researchers used the technique to   turn the nanomotors on and off and propel the rotation either clockwise or counterclockwise. The researchers found that they could position the nanomotors in a pattern and move them in a synchronised  fashion, which makes them more powerful and gives them more flexibility.The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.

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