TY - JOUR
T1 - Sustained unidirectional rotation of a self-organized DNA rotor on a nanopore
AU - Shi, Xin
AU - Pumm, Anna Katharina
AU - Isensee, Jonas
AU - Zhao, Wenxuan
AU - Verschueren, Daniel
AU - Martin-Gonzalez, Alejandro
AU - Golestanian, Ramin
AU - Dietz, Hendrik
AU - Dekker, Cees
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2022/9
Y1 - 2022/9
N2 - Flow-driven rotary motors such as windmills and water wheels drive functional processes in human society. Although examples of such rotary motors also feature prominently in cell biology, their synthetic construction at the nanoscale has remained challenging. Here we demonstrate flow-driven rotary motion of a self-organized DNA nanostructure that is docked onto a nanopore in a thin solid-state membrane. An elastic DNA bundle self-assembles into a chiral conformation upon phoretic docking onto the solid-state nanopore, and subsequently displays a sustained unidirectional rotary motion of up to 20 rev s−1. The rotors harness energy from a nanoscale water and ion flow that is generated by a static chemical or electrochemical potential gradient in the nanopore, which are established through a salt gradient or applied voltage, respectively. These artificial nanoengines self-organize and operate autonomously in physiological conditions, suggesting ways to constructing energy-transducing motors at nanoscale interfaces.
AB - Flow-driven rotary motors such as windmills and water wheels drive functional processes in human society. Although examples of such rotary motors also feature prominently in cell biology, their synthetic construction at the nanoscale has remained challenging. Here we demonstrate flow-driven rotary motion of a self-organized DNA nanostructure that is docked onto a nanopore in a thin solid-state membrane. An elastic DNA bundle self-assembles into a chiral conformation upon phoretic docking onto the solid-state nanopore, and subsequently displays a sustained unidirectional rotary motion of up to 20 rev s−1. The rotors harness energy from a nanoscale water and ion flow that is generated by a static chemical or electrochemical potential gradient in the nanopore, which are established through a salt gradient or applied voltage, respectively. These artificial nanoengines self-organize and operate autonomously in physiological conditions, suggesting ways to constructing energy-transducing motors at nanoscale interfaces.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85135574349&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41567-022-01683-z
DO - 10.1038/s41567-022-01683-z
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85135574349
SN - 1745-2473
VL - 18
SP - 1105
EP - 1111
JO - Nature Physics
JF - Nature Physics
IS - 9
ER -