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Controlled clockwise and anticlockwise rotational switching of a molecular motor

Nature Nanotechnology volume 8, pages 46–51 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

The design of artificial molecular machines1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19 often takes inspiration from macroscopic machines13,14,15,16,17,18,19. However, the parallels between the two systems are often only superficial, because most molecular machines are governed by quantum processes. Previously, rotary molecular motors3 powered by light4,5,6 and chemical7,8,9,10,11 energy have been developed. In electrically driven motors, tunnelling electrons from the tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope have been used to drive the rotation of a simple rotor12 in a single direction and to move a four-wheeled molecule across a surface13. Here, we show that a stand-alone molecular motor adsorbed on a gold surface can be made to rotate in a clockwise or anticlockwise direction by selective inelastic electron tunnelling through different subunits of the motor. Our motor is composed of a tripodal stator for vertical positioning, a five-arm rotor for controlled rotations, and a ruthenium atomic ball bearing connecting the static and rotational parts. The directional rotation arises from sawtooth-like rotational potentials, which are solely determined by the internal molecular structure and are independent of the surface adsorption site.

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Figure 1: Structure of the molecular motor.
Figure 2: Rotational energy and electronic structure.
Figure 3: Controlled rotation.
Figure 4: Rotation mechanism.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge financial support from the AUTOMOL project (ANR 09-NANO-040) for molecular motor synthesis and calculations, the US Department of Energy (BES grant DE-FG-02-02ER46012) for the work of the Ohio University team (U.G.E.P., H.K., Y.Z. and S.-W. H), the A*STAR Atom Tech VIP programme phase III (2011–2014), CNRS and the University Paul Sabatier of Toulouse. G.V. acknowledges the French Ministry of National Education and the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Lyon for a PhD fellowship. The authors also thank I.M. Dixon for comments on the manuscript. This paper is dedicated to the 70th birthday of Karl-Heinz Rieder and to the 60th birthday of François Diederich.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physics & Astronomy Department, Nanoscale and Quantum Phenomena Institute, Ohio University, Ohio, 45701, Athens, USA

    U. G. E. Perera, H. Kersell, Y. Zhang & S-W. Hla

  2. GNS & MANA Satellite, CEMES, CNRS, 29 rue J. Marvig, Toulouse Cedex, 31055, France

    G. Vives, J. Echeverria, M. Grisolia, G. Rapenne & C. Joachim

  3. Université de Toulouse, UPS, 118 route de Narbonne, Toulouse, 31062, France

    G. Rapenne

  4. IMRE, A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research), 3 Research Link, 117602, Singapore

    F. Ample & C. Joachim

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  1. U. G. E. Perera
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Contributions

S.W.H., C.J. and G.R. conceived and designed the research project. U.G.E.P., H.K. and Y.Z performed the STM experiments. F.A., M.G. and C.J. performed calculations. J.E. and C.J. developed the theory. G.V. and G.R. synthesized the molecules. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to G. Rapenne, C. Joachim or S-W. Hla.

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Perera, U., Ample, F., Kersell, H. et al. Controlled clockwise and anticlockwise rotational switching of a molecular motor. Nature Nanotech 8, 46–51 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2012.218

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