AVS 66th International Symposium & Exhibition
    Nanometer-scale Science and Technology Division Thursday Sessions
       Session NS+2D+QS-ThM

Paper NS+2D+QS-ThM12
Operating Molecular Propeller in Quantum Regime with Directional Control

Thursday, October 24, 2019, 11:40 am, Room A222

Session: Direct Atomic Fabrication by Electron and Particle Beams & Flash Session
Presenter: Tolulope Ajayi, Ohio University
Authors: Y. Zhang, Ohio University
T.M. Ajayi, Ohio University
J.P. Calupitan, Université de Toulouse, France
R. Tumbleson, Ohio University
G. Erbland, CEMES-CNRS, France
C. kammerer, CEMES-CNRS, France
S. Wang, Ohio University
L. Curtiss, Argonne National Laboratory
A. Ngo, Argonne National Laboratory
G. Rapenne, NAIST, Japan
S.-W. Hla, Ohio University
Correspondent: Click to Email
Synthetic molecular machines are fascinating and have a great promise to revolutionize a large scientific adn technology fields. The immense interest to this research area is evident by the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded for the design and synthesis of molecular machines. Unlike biological molecular machines, which typically have the sizes of a few microns, artificial machines operating at the nanometer scale are in the quantum regime. Here, we have developed a robust multi-component molecular propeller that enables unidirectional rotations o a materials surface when they are energized. Our propeller system is composed of a stator having a ratchet-shaped molecular gear designed to anchor on a gold surface and a rotator with three molecular blades. By means of scanning tunneling microscope imaging and manipulation, the rotation steps of individual molecular propellers are directly visualized, which confirms the unidirectional rotations of both left and right handed molecular propellers into clockwise and counterclockwise directions, respectively. Moreover, the mechanical manipulation of the molecular with the scanning probe tip further reveal detailed rotation mechanism, thereby opening a new research direction to investigate mechanical properties of the molecular machines with an atomic level precision.