Big energy savings for tiny machines

Big energy savings for tiny machines

We all have trillions of small molecular nanomachine inside, which do various types of work necessary to keep us alive.

In the ground-breaking study, under the leadership of Professor David Sivak of SFU Physics, a team created a strategy for efficiency and energy conservation for the first time in these machines.

 Success can have an impact on many areas, including the creation of more efficient computer chips and solar cells for energy generation.

Nanomachines are small, really small - in fact, some billions of meters width. 

They are also capable of working fast and complex: everything from moving around a cell, creating and breaking molecules and processing and expressing genetic information.

Shiva says that machines can do these functions while consuming less energy, so a principle that predicts energetic efficiency, helps us to understand how these micro-machines work and when they break down What happens if you are.

In the lab, Shivak's experimental colleagues manipulated a DNA hairpin, whose fold mimics the mechanical motion of more complex molecular machines. 

As per Shikha's theory, they found that maximum efficiency and minimum energy loss occurs when they are pulled faster on hairpin when it was folded but gradually when it came out.

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A Sufi Physics graduate student and co-first writer Steven Large on paper, explains that DNA hairpins (and nanomachines) are so small and floppy that they are constantly affected by violent conflicts with nearby molecules.

"Jostling reveals the hairpin for you, it's an energy and time saver," says the elder.

Siwak feels that the next step is to learn how to run the molecular machine through its operational cycle while implementing the theory while reducing the energy needed to do so.

So, what is the benefit of making Nanomachine more efficient? Shiva says that potential applications can be game-changing in different areas.

"Creating better efficient computer chips and computer memory (reducing the requirements of electricity and the heat they emit) in use, making better renewable energy content for processes like artificial photosynthesis (increased energy harvested from the sun ) And may improve the autonomy of biochemical machines, such as biotechnology applications such as drug delivery. "