Ultrahigh-speed rotating nanoelectromechanical system devices assembled from nanoscale building blocks

The development of rotary nanomotors is crucial for advancing nanoelectromechanical system technology. In this work, we report design, assembly and rotation of ordered arrays of nanomotors. The nanomotors are bottom-up assembled from nanoscale building blocks with nanowires as rotors, patterned nanomagnets as bearings and quadrupole microelectrodes as stators. Arrays of nanomotors rotate with controlled angle, speed (over 18,000 r.p.m.), and chirality by electric fields. Using analytical modelling, we reveal the fundamental nanoscale electrical, mechanical and magnetic interactions in the nanomotor system, which excellently agrees with experimental results and provides critical understanding for designing metallic nanoelectromechanical systems. The nanomotors can be continuously rotated for 15 h over 240,000 cycles. They are applied for controlled biochemical release and demonstrate releasing rate of biochemicals on nanoparticles that can be precisely tuned by mechanical rotations. The innovations reported in this research, from concept, design and actuation to application, are relevant to nanoelectromechanical system, nanomedicine, microfluidics and lab-on-a-chip architectures.