Joel Orr's World

Researchers from the Spanish National Research Council, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the Catalan Institute of Nanotechnology have created the first nanomotor that is moved by changes in temperature. The carbon nanotube is capable of transporting cargo and rotating like a conventional motor, but is a million times smaller than the head of a needle. This research opens the door to the creation of new nanometric devices designed to carry out mechanical tasks which in the future could be applied to the fields of biomedicine or new materials.

The "nanotransporter" consists of a carbon nanotube - a cylindrical molecule formed by carbon atoms - covered with a shorter concentric nanotube which can move back and forth or act as a rotor. A metal cargo can be added to the shorter mobile tube, which could then transport this cargo from one end to the other of the longer tube or rotate around its axis.

Researchers are able to control these movements by applying different temperatures at the two ends of the long nanotube. The shorter mobile tube thus moves from the warmer to the colder area and is similar to how air moves around a heater. This is the first time a nanometer sized motor is created that can use changes in temperature to generate and control movements.

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