Through the Eyes of Creators: Observing Artificial Molecular Motors: ACS Nanoscience Au

Inspired by molecular motors in biology, there has
been significant progress in building artificial molecular motors, using
a number of quite distinct approaches. As the constructs become more
sophisticated, there is also an increasing need to directly observe the
motion of artificial motors at the nanoscale and to characterize their
performance. Here, we review the most used methods that tackle
those tasks. We aim to help experimentalists with an overview of the
available tools used for different types of synthetic motors and to
choose the method most suited for the size of a motor and the desired
measurements, such as the generated force or distances in the moving
system. Furthermore, for many envisioned applications of synthetic
motors, it will be a requirement to guide and control directed motions.
We therefore also provide a perspective on how motors can be observed on structures that allow for directional guidance, such as
nanowires and microchannels. Thus, this Review facilitates the future research on synthetic molecular motors, where observations at
a single-motor level and a detailed characterization of motion will promote applications.