Nanotechnology Case

Abstract

This paper looks at the creation and development of Nanocars from the creation of James Tours first nanocar, to the first electric nanocar developed by Ben Feringa. The undertaking has not been without challenges. Steering, operating temperatures, and powering the nanocars are just a few of the hurdles researchers have faced.

For years, scientists have worked hard at the creation of tiny motors to power the nanomachines, such as the nanocar. In 2010, the world's tiniest electric vehicle was introduced. Based on Tour's nanocars and the research done by Ben Feringa and his team, Feringa presented the electric nanocar that is self propelled by electrons. This tiny motor is exciting for the nanotechnology world. For things like nanorobots, for example, they need something to power them. This is an important step towards a reality where nanomachines can be used to assemble food, for instance, or build items starting at the nanoscale starting with a single atom. With the progress made on nanomachines who knows where radical nanotechnology may go?

Introduction

Tiny cars that can cruise microscopically on the head of a pin sounds like the stuff science fiction movies are made of. Today, nanotechnology has made those science fiction dreams a reality. In 2005, James Tour and Kevin Kelly developed the nanocar and later the nanodragster, named for its hot rod shape (Sen, 2009). Though this was advancement in nanomachines, the nanodragster, like its predecessor, did not have an engine, but was instead powered by the jostling of random collisions with molecules around it. Tour's creations were the first step in the ultimate goal. Self powered nanomachines.

Discussion

In 2005, James Tour and his co-workers at Rice University developed the first nanocar. The nanocar has wheel made of four buckyballs and is 5,000 times smaller than the human red blood cell (Sen, 2009). Before this, scientists had nanoscale parts, like gears, that could become parts of nanoscale machines. Tour's nanocar was the next step, however; Tour's nanocar did not have an engine also it required temperatures of 200 degrees Celsius to operate. Its movement was the result of the collisions of molecules around it. This is known as Brownian motion. Tour and his team's research is another step in the progress to build functional machines that can be used in microelectronics and other applications.

Figure 1 James Tour's nanocar (Single-Molecule Nano-Vehicles Synthesized: 'Fantastic Voyage' Not So Far-Fetched, 2009)

Tour's next improved nanocar, also known as the "nanodragster" for its appearance, was a step in the right direction. The nanodragster improved on the original nanocar by using p-carborane wheels on the front and buckyballs on the back. The p-carbone molecules required much lower temperatures to operate; however this made the much harder to see with the scanning tunneling microscope. Putting buckyballs on the back wheels made the car much easier to see with the STM microscope, while the p-carbone wheels provided the traction.

The nanodragster has the added benefit of a chassis that rotates freely. This property allows it to turn on one front wheel or the other, which is a behavior not seen in previous nanocars. In fact, much to the researcher's amusement, the nanodragster appears to pop wheelies, much like real dragsters at the start of a drag race (Williams, 2010).

Figure 1.2 The nanodragster (Williams, 2010).

Challenges

Since the nanocar and the nanodragster did not have a motor, the movement nor could the steering be controlled. Instead, its motion was caused by the random motion of molecules around it. The challenge is in creating a way for the car to move on its own as well as being able to control the cars motion.

Another challenge was the high temperatures required to get the car to turn. Early nanocars rolled on buckyballs