来源：《自然—化学》

德国埃尔朗根-纽伦堡大学Dube Henry团队报道了光传动是一种在纳米尺度上实现精确运动平移的概念。相关研究成果于2022年4月18日发表在《自然—化学》。

利用功能纳米机械的真正潜力的主要挑战之一是以极高的精度集成和传输运动。分子齿轮传动系统能够以相关方式整合多个运动，将运动从一个位置转移到另一个位置，并改变它们的速度和方向。然而，目前还没有强有力的方法在分子尺度上实现齿轮传动运动的主动驱动。

该文中，研究人员介绍了一种轻燃料分子齿轮传动系统，并展示了其相对于被动热激活齿轮传动的优越性。实现180°旋转到120°旋转的平移，同时旋转轴的方向移动120°。在这种光传动过程中，纳米级的精确运动可以改变方向，并以类似于宏观伞齿轮操作、耗能的方式减速——这是将齿轮传动作为未来机械纳米系统中的主动部件的必要先决条件。

附：英文原文

Title: Photogearing as a concept for translation of precise motions at the nanoscale

Author: Gerwien, Aaron, Gnannt, Frederik, Mayer, Peter, Dube, Henry

Issue&Volume: 2022-04-18

Abstract: One of the major challenges for harnessing the true potential of functional nano-machinery is integrating and transmitting motion with great precision. Molecular gearing systems enable the integration of multiple motions in a correlated fashion to translate motions from one locality to another and to change their speed and direction. However, currently no powerful methods exist to implement active driving of gearing motions at the molecular scale. Here we present a light-fuelled molecular gearing system and demonstrate its superiority over passive thermally activated gearing. Translation of a 180° rotation into a 120° rotation is achieved while at the same time the direction of the rotation axis is shifted by 120°. Within such photogearing processes, precise motions at the nanoscale can be changed in direction and decelerated in a manner similar to macroscopic bevel-gear operations in an energy consuming way—a necessary prerequisite to employ gearing as an active component in future mechanical nano-systems.

DOI: 10.1038/s41557-022-00917-0

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41557-022-00917-0