Nano-Micro Letters, Volume. 16, Issue 1, 155(2024)

Collective Molecular Machines: Multidimensionality and Reconfigurability

Bin Wang1 and Yuan Lu2、*
Author Affiliations
  • 1Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People’s Republic of China
  • 2Key Laboratory of Industrial Biocatalysis, Ministry of Education, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People’s Republic of China
  • show less

    Molecular machines are key to cellular activity where they are involved in converting chemical and light energy into efficient mechanical work. During the last 60 years, designing molecular structures capable of generating unidirectional mechanical motion at the nanoscale has been the topic of intense research. Effective progress has been made, attributed to advances in various fields such as supramolecular chemistry, biology and nanotechnology, and informatics. However, individual molecular machines are only capable of producing nanometer work and generally have only a single functionality. In order to address these problems, collective behaviors realized by integrating several or more of these individual mechanical units in space and time have become a new paradigm. In this review, we comprehensively discuss recent developments in the collective behaviors of molecular machines. In particular, collective behavior is divided into two paradigms. One is the appropriate integration of molecular machines to efficiently amplify molecular motions and deformations to construct novel functional materials. The other is the construction of swarming modes at the supramolecular level to perform nanoscale or microscale operations. We discuss design strategies for both modes and focus on the modulation of features and properties. Subsequently, in order to address existing challenges, the idea of transferring experience gained in the field of micro/nano robotics is presented, offering prospects for future developments in the collective behavior of molecular machines.

    Tools

    Get Citation

    Copy Citation Text

    Bin Wang, Yuan Lu. Collective Molecular Machines: Multidimensionality and Reconfigurability[J]. Nano-Micro Letters, 2024, 16(1): 155

    Download Citation

    EndNote(RIS)BibTexPlain Text
    Save article for my favorites
    Paper Information

    Category: Research Articles

    Received: Dec. 29, 2023

    Accepted: Feb. 17, 2024

    Published Online: Apr. 29, 2024

    The Author Email: Lu Yuan (yuanlu@tsinghua.edu.cn)

    DOI:10.1007/s40820-024-01379-4

    Topics