A chemical spider that spins a polymer thread using a simple organometallic polymerization catalyst could drive a nanomotor, according to researchers at Pennsylvania State University.

Ayusman Sen and colleagues say that these nanomotors have potential applications in the deposition of polymers in the channels of microdevices, for instance.

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Ref.: Pavlick, R. A., Sengupta, S., McFadden, T., Zhang, H. and Sen, A. (2011), A Polymerization-Powered Motor, Angewandte Chemie International Edition [doi: 10.1002/anie.201103565]