Ultrafast nanotube based diffusiophoresis nanomotors.

Nanomotors represent a significant step forward in nanotechnology, and prove that nanotubes and other nanostructures several hundred times smaller than the diameter of a human hair can be manipulated and assembled into true devices. In this letter, nanotubes based nanomotors are reported. The nanomotors were observed to move at a velocity of ∼0.5 m/s, which is several orders of magnitude faster than current nanomotors. Concentration difference energy was thought to provide the main motive forces to drive these nanomotors. This phenomenon which is seldom observed at macroscopic scale, is common in microscale, and can be employed to explain some motions of nano- and microscale objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]