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How to build and race a fast nanocar

The first NanoCar Race was an opportunity to see how far we have come in manipulating single molecules. As the team with the fastest molecule in this race, we share the synthetic challenges to building a fast nanocar and the experimental approach needed for rapid translation across a surface.

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Figure 1: The Dipolar Racer molecule and the nanocar racetrack.
Figure 2: Single-molecule manipulation by STM.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge financial support from the Graz University Rector's office and thank S. Jaekel, C. Nacci and M. Schied for experimental support. The work at Rice University is supported by the Discovery Institute.

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Correspondence to Leonhard Grill or James M. Tour.

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Simpson, G., García-López, V., Petermeier, P. et al. How to build and race a fast nanocar. Nature Nanotech 12, 604–606 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2017.137

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