Locomotion of chemically powered autonomous nanowire motors

Physical insights on the hydrodynamics and locomotion of self-propelled nanowire motor under nonequilibrium steady state are investigated using finite element method in accordance with hybrid molecular dynamics/multiparticle collision dynamics and rigid body dynamics. Nanowire motor is discretized into finite segments, and forces of solvent molecule acting on the motor are assumed to be the sum of forces acting on all segments of the motor. We show that the locomotion of nanowire motor is mainly determined by the imbalance forces acting on the catalytic and noncatalytic segments. The average velocity along the axis increases significantly as a function of time prior to reaching equilibrium. The length of nanowire motor shows negligible effect on the velocity of the motor. Preliminary experimental results are provided to validate the current model. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.