Nanomotor racing: Green lines show results of “racing,” where images a, b, c, and d represent the tracks left by various types of speeding nanomotors. The winner is “c,” a “catalytic nanomotor’ composed of gold and platinum nanowires supercharged with carbon nanotubes.
Courtesy of the American Chemical Society
Today’s nanomotors are made with gold and platinum nanowires and are powered by hydrogen peroxide fuel for their self-propulsion. But the main disadvantage behind these tiny items is their extremely slow mobility. It is said that they travel only 10micrometers per second. Therefore, their practical usage has been considered as highly inefficient.
Now a group of researchers in Arizona have come up with a solution:
- A new type of nanomotor has been invented as a replacement for existing low speed nanomotors.
- 10 times more powerful than existing ones.
- It has a speed of about 94- 200 micrometers per second.
- Formed by inserting carbon nanotubes into the platinum and spiking the hydrogen peroxide fuel with hydrazine - in order to gain a higher speed.
- Advantage: Theses nanomotors can be widely used in self-powered nanoscale transport systems or nanoscale delivery systems
See how it happens:
Wang and colleagues supercharged their nanomotors by inserting carbon nanotubes into the platinum, thus boosting average speed to 60 micrometers per second. Spiking the hydrogen peroxide fuel with hydrazine (a type of rocket fuel) kicked up the speed still further, to 94- 200 micrometers per second. This innovation “offers great promise for self-powered nanoscale transport and delivery systems,” the scientists state.
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