Speaker
Description
Molecular motors continue to attract wide interest, due to their capability to convert energy into uni-directional rotary motion at the nanoscale. In solution, the rotational movement of the motors is overwhelmed by Brownian motion. However, one of the main challenges is to achieve organization of and cooperativity within multiple motor molecules to amplify the nanoscale motion and to use the motor’s potential to do mechanical work on the macroscale to full capacity. In order to achieve this goal, the motors can, for example, be immobilized on a solid surface. Assembling such molecular motors and switches on a solid surface could impart a high degree of coherence in their orientation and packing. This leads to well-defined self-assembled molecular networks where the induced motion of the incorporated motors can be studied using state-of-the-art nanoscale imaging techniques such as scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). Through molecular design such controlled assembly of molecular motors was achieved at the liquid-solid (LS) interface under ambient conditions. However, the inherent dynamics present at the LS interface were inseparable from the response of the molecular motors to external stimuli. Bringing the system over to low temperature and ultra-high vacuum (LT-UHV) conditions would rid any inherent dynamics from those ambient conditions. In this contribution I will discuss the controlled self-assembly of molecular motors on a solid surface achieved through molecular design under ambient and LT-UHV conditions and the experimental transition between these conditions.
References:
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