MiniCar

I had made a decision to cut back on blog articles discussing nanotechnology, but this one was just too good to pass up.

In late 2005, researchers at Rice University built a chassis and wheels for a nano-sized car. The car was built from organic molecules and could move along a heated gold surface, drawn along by an electromagnetic field. The car was approximately 3 by 4 nanometers in size.

Today, Rice University researcher Jim Tour has announced that his team has developed a motor for the nano-car. A pair of bonded carbon molecules rotate if illuminated by a specific wavelength of light, and the structure was attached to the car's chassis. Tests with nuclear magnetic resonance, which allowed the researchers to detect the position of the hydrogen atoms within the vehicle, showed that the "wheels" were indeed turning when the "motor" was running.

Unfortunately, the gold surface used in previous tests won't work with the motored car. The energy from the light would transfer into the gold molecules, so Tour's team is working on finding another "track" to test the car on. They believe that the car will move at a rate of approximately 2 nanometers per minute, though testing this will be hard if they use a non-metalic track, because the scanning tunnelling microscope needs a metal base. "This shows a general problem with nanotechnology right now," Tour says. "We only have crude tools and that slows development down."

So don't go out and sell your compact just yet....