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“Nanobots” are frequent visitors to movies and science fiction, and show off their stunts again and again. In the minds of many people, they are Transformers that have shrunk countless times.
With the “nano robot” as the key word, the search results appear, the style is the sauce:
What about nanobots? How to make it?
▲Chemical methods can synthesize a range of molecular-scale parts: a typical nanoswitch schematic that controls specific molecules to move by changing pH | References [1]
There are also some hard technologies that can be used to make nano parts, such as lithography.
The lithography technology is mainly used to manufacture chips, and is one of the few processing technologies that humans can master to achieve nanometer-level precision. Scientists at the California Institute of Technology use lithography to create complex 3D metal geometries with resolutions of 25-100 nm [2]. In 2019, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the United States developed a “femtosecond projection two-photon lithography” technology that can increase the processing speed of conventional techniques by a factor of 1000, requiring only 8 minutes and 20 seconds. A sesame-sized micro-nano structure was printed, and the processing accuracy was maintained at the nanometer level [3].
▲Complex 3D microstructures fabricated by femtosecond projection two-photon lithography | References [3]
Neither chemical or photolithographic methods produce nano-parts that need to be further assembled into robots. How to achieve micro-scale assembly is another difficulty in the research of “nano-robots”.
As early as the 1980s, people realized control of single atoms. In 2005, the Chinese Academy of Sciences successfully moved a 4 micron long, 100 nanometer thick carbon nanotube into an engraved groove [4]. However, how to perform nanoassembly on a large scale is still a problem.
In 2015, a research team at the French National Academy of Sciences successfully synthesized a long polymer chain that combines thousands of nanomachines through supramolecular bonds, each of which can produce about 1 Linear stretching motion of nanometers. With the accumulation of less, the movement of these tens of thousands of small nanomachines can make the polymer chain produce 10 micron contraction and relaxation, just like in muscle tissue [5].
▲ 积少成多: The coordinated movement of tens of thousands of nano-parts can produce large-scale changes | References [5]
Evenly, these studies have only realized the simple aggregation of “nano-parts”. If you really want to assemble the kind of universal machine like a needle in the movie, humans still have a lot to go.
How do you get the nanobots moving?
▲Sperm drilled into the nanotube as a power source | References [10] The researchers used bovine sperm. In the macro world, cattle can be used to pull carts. I never imagined that in the microscopic world, their sperm would still be “the ox cart in the nanosphere.” What can the current nanobots do?
[5] Du, G., Moulin, E., Jouault, N., Buhler, E., & Giuseppone, N. (2012). Muscle‐like Supramolecular polymers: Integrated motion from thousands of molecular machines. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 51(50), 12504-12508.
[6] Castro, CE, Kilchherr, F., Kim, DN, Shiao, EL, Wauer, T., Wortmann, P., … & Dietz, H (2011). A primer to scaffolded DNA origami. Nature methods, 8(3), 221.
[7] Li, S., Jiang, Q., Liu, S., Zhang, Y., Tian, Y., Song, C., … & Chang, Y. (2018). A DNA nanorobot functions as a cancer therapeutic in response to a molecular trigger in vivo. Nature biotechnology, 36(3), 258.
[8] Kim, K., Xu, X., Guo, J., & Fan, DL (2014). Ultrahigh-speed rotating nanoelectromechanical system devices assembled from Nanoscale building blocks. NatUre communications, 5, 3632.
[9] https://new.qq.com/omn/20190504/20190504A06FRH.html
[10]Magdanz, V., Sanchez, S., & Schmidt, OG (2013). Development of a sperm‐flagella driven micro‐bio‐robot. Advanced Materials, 25(45), 6581-6588.
[11] Wu, Z., Li, L., Yang, Y., Hu, P., Li, Y., Yang, SY, … & Gao , W. (2019). A microrobotic system guided by photoacoustic computed tomography for targeted navigation in intestines in vivo. Science Robotics, 4(32), eaax0613.
[12] Castelvecchi, D. (2017). Drivers gear up for world’s first nanocar race. Nature News, 544(7650), 278.< /p>