AssetID: 55118005
Headline: RAW VIDEO: Mind-blowing micromotor could fit inside a strand of hair and be used as a pump inside the human body
Caption: A newly developed motor so small it can fit inside a single strand of hair could soon revolutionise medicine by working as a pump inside the human body. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have unveiled tiny, cell-sized gears that are powered by light—marking a breakthrough in creating the smallest motors ever designed. These gears are so small that they can be fabricated on a micrometre scale, paving the way for the tiniest on-chip motors in history. A press release from the University of Gothenburg explains: “Gears are everywhere – from clocks and cars to robots and wind turbines. For more than 30 years, researchers have been trying to create even smaller gears to build micro-engines. But progress stalled at 0.1 millimetres, as it was not possible to build the drive trains needed to make them move any smaller.” Now, scientists have overcome this barrier by ditching traditional mechanical drive trains in favour of laser light, which directly powers the gears. In their groundbreaking study, the team shows that microscopic machines can be driven by optical metamaterials—tiny, patterned structures that control light at the nanoscale. These gears are made from silicon and created using traditional lithography techniques. The gear's diameter is just a few tens of micrometres, and it sits directly on a microchip. By shining a laser onto the metamaterial, the researchers can make the gear spin. The laser’s intensity controls the speed, and changing the light’s polarisation allows the direction of the gear to be altered. This new method brings scientists closer than ever to creating fully functional micromotors. “We have built a gear train in which a light-driven gear sets the entire chain in motion. The gears can also convert rotation into linear motion, perform periodic movements, and control microscopic mirrors to deflect light,” said the study’s first author, Gan Wang, a researcher in soft matter physics at the University of Gothenburg. This breakthrough opens up new possibilities for micro- and nanomachines capable of controlling light, manipulating tiny particles, and even being integrated into future lab-on-a-chip systems. And the potential for medicine is enormous. According to the researchers, a gear wheel can be as small as 16-20 micrometres—roughly the size of human cells. Gan Wang believes these tiny motors could one day be used in the human body. "We can use the new micromotors as pumps inside the human body, for example, to regulate various flows. I am also looking at how they function as valves that open and close,” he said. With this revolutionary technology, the future of micro-engineering looks brighter than ever. The possibilities for its application in medicine and technology are limitless.
Keywords: feature,photo feature,photo story
PersonInImage: