Investigation of the motion of fullerene-wheeled nano-machines on thermally activated curved gold substrates

Abstract

Abstract The current study presents one of the first investigations in which the simultaneous effect of the curved gold substrates and temperature changes on C60 and C60-wheeled nano-machines’ migration was evaluated. For this aim, the cylindrical and concave substrates with different radii were chosen to attain the size of the most appropriate substrate for nano-machines. Results indicated that the chassis' flexibility substantially affected the nanocar's mobility. Nano-machines' deviation from their desired direction was adequately restricted due to selected substrate geometries (The cylindrical and concave). Besides, for the first time, the effect of the substrate radius changes on nano-machine's motion has been investigated. Our findings revealed that adjusting the value of radius results in a long-range movement for nano-machines as well as a sufficient amount of diffusion coefficient even at low temperatures ( $$75\; \text{K}$$ 75 K or $$150\; \text{K}$$ 150 K ). As a result, the aforementioned substrates could be utilized as the optimized geometries for C60 and nanocar at all temperatures. At the same time, the nanotruck displayed an appropriate performance merely on the small cylindrical substrate ( $$radius=17.5 \; \text{\AA} $$ r a d i u s = 17.5 Å ) at high temperatures ( $$500\; \text{K}$$ 500 K and $$600\; \text{K}$$ 600 K ).