PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP FOR A BETTER WORLD
PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP FOR A BETTER WORLD It’s that notion that is propelling researchers at Tufts University in Medford, Mass., to excite molecules to rotate a million times per second – and to observe the results through a high-powered microscope.
“We saw how fast they spin, the direction and whether to add electricity to make them spin,” said Dr. Charles Sykes, a professor at Tufts. A spinning molecule is known as a molecular rotor, which may be turned into a motor that could perform heretofore impossible tasks, Sykes explained.
“The molecules could move a fluid over a surface. For example, a pipe could move a liquid,” said Sykes. Such a development in the field of microfluidics would enable engineers to create tiny pipes that could interface with parts of the body in medical applications. “You could provide a tiny molecular-scale pump,” said Sykes.
In addition, spinning molecules could be used as miniature gears in nanoscale electrical circuits. Such gears could be used in delay lines – a technology used in cell phones, said Sykes. “We are trying to figure out design rules to see if they can make the devices. Then engineers can come in and start constructing things if they look promising,” said Sykes.
The researchers used small, simple molecules called thioethers, which are 1 nanometer wide and contain two four-atom carbon chains on either side of a sulfur atom. They cooled the molecules to seven degrees Kelvin and then increased the temperature to 25 degrees K, which caused the molecules to spin rapidly. Knowledge gleaned of the molecules’ behavior at that temperature can be applied to molecules at more normal temperatures, said Sykes.
Sykes and his team viewed the spinning molecules using scanning tunneling microscopes (STMs), high-powered electron microscopes that make individual atoms visible. In January, Sykes received a five-year CAREER Award through the National Science Foundation that will allow him to continue his research into molecular rotation.
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