(flow drives DNA rotor (art concept). Photo source: Seth Dirk laboratory, Delft University of Technology) researchers at Delft University of technology in the Netherlands have produced the world's smallest flow drive motor. Inspired by the Dutch landmark windmill and biomotor protein, researchers have constructed a flow driven rotor configured by DNA, which can convert the energy of electric energy or salt gradient into useful mechanical work. This achievement opens up a new way for the design of active robots on the nano scale. Relevant papers were published in the recent journal Nature Physics. For thousands of years, rotating electrical machines have been the power source of human society. From windmills and water turbines in the Netherlands and around the world to advanced offshore wind turbines that represent the future of green energy today. These rotating motors driven by water or wind also have prominent applications in biological cells, such as fof1 ATP synthase, which can generate fuel for cell operation. But so far, it is still very difficult to manufacture nanoscale synthetic structures. The flow drive motor manufactured this time is made of DNA material. This structure interfaces with the nanopores (a tiny opening) in the film. Under the action of the electric field, the DNA beam with a thickness of only 7 nm is self-organized into a rotor like structure, and then enters a continuous rotating motion of more than 10 revolutions per second. For the past seven years, researchers have been trying to synthesize and manufacture such rotating nanomotors from the bottom up. They used DNA folding technology to construct 2D and 3D nanoobjects using specific interactions between complementary DNA base pairs. The energy generated by the ion current formed by applying voltage and the like rotates the rotor. The rotation direction is set by the chirality of the rotor, and the left rotation rotates clockwise; Right hand rotation is counterclockwise rotation. The researchers also demonstrated the ability of this "nano turbine" to carry loads. The researchers said that this achievement is a milestone because it is the first flow driven active rotor experiment on the nanoscale so far. The importance of this work is not limited to this simple rotor itself. The technology and physical mechanism behind it have opened up a new way for manufacturing synthetic nano motors - flow driven nano turbines, which is an unexplored field. The researchers said that they have produced the first nanoscale turbine, which reproduces the beautiful Dutch windmill, but this time it is only 25 nanometers, which is the size of a protein in the body. (news agency)