A bacterial ratchet motor
| Autor: | Di Leonardo, R., Angelani, L., Ruocco, G., Iebba, V., Conte, M. P., Schippa, S., De Angelis, F., Mecarini, F., Di Fabrizio, E. |
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| Rok vydání: | 2009 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | PNAS 107 (21) 9541-9545 (2010) |
| Druh dokumentu: | Working Paper |
| DOI: | 10.1073/pnas.0910426107 |
| Popis: | Self-propelling bacteria are a dream of nano-technology. These unicellular organisms are not just capable of living and reproducing, but they can swim very efficiently, sense the environment and look for food, all packaged in a body measuring a few microns. Before such perfect machines could be artificially assembled, researchers are beginning to explore new ways to harness bacteria as propelling units for micro-devices. Proposed strategies require the careful task of aligning and binding bacterial cells on synthetic surfaces in order to have them work cooperatively. Here we show that asymmetric micro-gears can spontaneously rotate when immersed in an active bacterial bath. The propulsion mechanism is provided by the self assembly of motile Escherichia coli cells along the saw-toothed boundaries of a nano-fabricated rotor. Our results highlight the technological implications of active matter's ability to overcome the restrictions imposed by the second law of thermodynamics on equilibrium passive fluids. Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures |
| Databáze: | arXiv |
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