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A nanomotor is a molecular device capable of converting energy into movement and forces on the order of the pico-newtons.
A proposed branch of research is the integration of molecular motor proteins found in living cells into molecular motors implanted in artificial devices. Such a motor protein would be able to move a "cargo" within that device, similarly to how kinesin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinesin) moves various molecules along tracks of microtubules inside cells.
Starting and stopping the movement of such motor proteins would involve caging the ATP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine_triphosphate) in molecular structures sensitive to UV light, pulses of UV illumination would thus provide pulses of movement.
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