Scientists Create Microgears That Are Slimmer Than a Human Hair

They're powered by hydrogen-peroxide. 

Maggi, et al. Small Journal

Along with pulleys and levers and screws, gears are one of the most basic building blocks of even the most complex mechanisms. With a little bit of ingenuity, you can put them to work doing all kinds of super impressive stuff. And now, scientists have been able to create gears that work on the smallest conceivable scale: microgears smaller than the width of a human hair

Developed by researcher Claudio Maggi and a team hailing from Italy, Germany, and Spain, the microgears can be as small as 8 micrometers wide. But like a full-sized gear, these tiny, toothed circles can't turn all by themselves. Instead, they need to be surrounded by small "micromotors"—spherical particles with one half of their surface covered in aluminum, so that when placed in a hydrogen-peroxide solution, a chemical reaction causes them to spin. As these micromotors spin and move around, they get caught in the microgear's teeth, pushing it along. 

This isn't the first time anyone's experimented with microgears, but previous attempts have typically relied on bacteria or other microscopic swimmers for power. The trouble is that these wee beasties have a mind of their own (so to speak), whereas the micromotors that power these new microgears have movement that's much more predictable and controllable. 

The researchers have only developed the gears, not come up with any particularly thrilling applications. But it's not too hard to think up a few. After all, once you have a powered gear, you can attach basically anything to it, so these microgears could be the foundation of miniature versions of just about any normally-sized gear-powered contraption. Lets get started with some of these, shall we? 

Source: Small Journal via Phys Org

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
More From Energy