STM STUDIES ON MOLECULAR ROTORS AND MOTORS

Abstract

Molecular motor is a nanoscale machine that consumes energy to produce work via the unidirectional and controlled movement. They are universal in nature and essential to numerous processes of life. When mounted onto solid surfaces, scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) is a powerful technique to characterize the molecular rotors and motors due to the atomic-scale resolution coupled with its ability to track the motion of molecular rotor and motor over time. Moreover, the molecular rotors and motors can be powered by STM tip through injecting tunneling electrons. This review addresses recent advances in the STM studies of the structure, motion, and manipulation of molecular rotors and motors. The developments of surface-mounted azimuthal and altitudinal rotor and motors, large-scale array of molecular rotors, as well as the molecular motors with translational motion will be addressed.