Subnanometer Motion of Cargoes Driven by Thermal Gradients Along Carbon Nanotubes
Amelia Barreiro,1
Riccardo Rurali,2
Eduardo R. Hernández,3*
Joel Moser,1
Thomas Pichler,4
László Forró,5
Adrian Bachtold1*
An important issue in nanoelectromechanical systems is developing small electrically driven motors. We report on an artificial nanofabricated motor in which one short carbon nanotube moves relative to another coaxial nanotube. A cargo is attached to an ablated outer wall of a multiwalled carbon nanotube that can rotate and/or translate along the inner nanotube. The motion is actuated by imposing a thermal gradient along the nanotube, which allows for subnanometer displacements, as opposed to an electromigration or random walk effect.
1 Centre d'Investigacions en Nanociencia i Nanotecnologia (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas–Institut Català de Nanotecnologia) and Centro Nacional de Microelectrónica, Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), E-08193 Bellaterra, Spain.
2 Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica, UAB, E-08193 Bellaterra, Spain.
3 Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona, Campus UAB, E-08193 Bellaterra, Spain.
4 Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, Strudlhofgasse 4, 01090 Wien, Austria.
5 Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: adrian.bachtold{at}cnm.es (A.B.); ehe{at}icmab.es (E.R.H.)
