molecular propeller

Motility in water and other liquids can be also realized by a molecular propeller in the future.

In a similar way, the assembly of a molecular propeller and a molecular motor can form a nanoscale machine that can pump fluids or perform locomotion.

A molecular propeller is a molecule that can propel fluids when rotated, due to its special shape that is designed in analogy to macroscopic propellers.

Molecular propellers can be rotated by molecular motors that can be driven by chemical, biological, optical and electrical means, or various ratchet-like mechanisms.

A number of molecules, such as molecular propellers, have been designed, although experimental studies of these molecules are inhibited by the lack of methods to construct these molecules.

The molecular propellers designed in the group of Prof. Petr Král from the University of Illinois at Chicago have their blades formed by planar aromatic molecules and the shaft is a carbon nanotube.

Molecular propeller is a molecule that can propel fluids when rotated, due to its special shape that is designed in analogy to macroscopic propellers: it has several molecular-scale blades attached at a certain pitch angle around the circumference of a shaft, aligned along the rotational axis.