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Mechanical Transmission of Rotational Motion between Molecular-Scale Gears

Lin HH, Croy A, Gutierrez R, Joachim C, Cuniberti G (2020)

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Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2020

Journal

Book Volume: 13

Article Number: 034024

Journal Issue: 3

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevApplied.13.034024

Abstract

The manipulation and coupling of molecule gears is the first step toward realizing molecular-scale mechanical machines. Here, we theoretically investigate the behavior of such gears using molecular-dynamics simulations. Within a nearly rigid-body approximation, we reduce the dynamics of the gears to the rotational motion around the orientation vector. This allows us to study their behavior based on a few collective variables. Specifically, for a single hexa(4-tert-butylphenyl)benzene molecule, we show that the rotational-angle dynamics correspond to those of a Brownian rotor. For two such coupled gears, we extract the effective interaction potential and find that it is strongly dependent on the center-of-mass distance. Finally, we study the collective motion of a train of gears. We demonstrate the existence of three different regimes, depending on the magnitude of the driving torque of the first gear: Underdriving, driving, and overdriving, which correspond, respectively, to no collective rotation, collective rotation, and only single-gear rotation. This behavior can be understood in terms of a simplified interaction potential.

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How to cite

APA:

Lin, H.-H., Croy, A., Gutierrez, R., Joachim, C., & Cuniberti, G. (2020). Mechanical Transmission of Rotational Motion between Molecular-Scale Gears. Physical Review Applied, 13(3). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.13.034024

MLA:

Lin, H-H, et al. "Mechanical Transmission of Rotational Motion between Molecular-Scale Gears." Physical Review Applied 13.3 (2020).

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