The National Academy of Sciences have written that a molecular device just two billionths of a metre across could be used to power future computers. A chemical brain which one day could act as a remote control for swarms of nano machines has already been tested on larger brains. The hope is that nano technology powered by chemical nano brains could help in treating tumors.

The nano chemical brain (NCB) is made from 17 molecules of chemical duroquinone, each one known as a logic device.
They each resemble a ring with four protruding spokes that can be independently rotated to represent four different states.

One duroquinone molecule sits at the centre of a ring formed by the remaining 16. All are connected by chemical bonds, known as hydrogen bonds. The state of the control molecule at the centre is switched by a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM).

 

To test the control unit, the researchers simulated docking eight existing nano-machines to the structure, creating a “nano-factory” or a kind of “chemical swiss army knife”. The attached devices, created by other research groups, included the “world’s tiniest elevator”, a molecular platform that can be raised or lowered on command. The device is about two and a half nanometres (billionths of a metre) high, and the lift moves less than one nanometre up and down. All eight machines simultaneously responded to a single instruction in the simulation.

Let’s just hope that we don’t end up with mind and body controlling evil robots who take over! At the rate at which AI and nano technology is being developed, anything is possible!