| Institution: | 1. Institut de Science et d'Ingégnierie Supramoléculaires (ISIS) UMR 7006, University of Strasbourg, CNRS, 8 allée Gaspard Monge, 67000 Strasbourg, France;2. Dipartimento di Chimica “Giacomo Ciamician”, Università di Bologna, via Selmi 2, 40126 Bologna, Italy;3. Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, della Vita e della Sostenibilità Ambientale, Università di Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 17/A, 43124 Parma, Italy;4. CLAN-Center for Light-Activated Nanostructures (CLAN), Università di Bologna and Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, via Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy
Dipartimento di Chimica Industriale “Toso Montanari”, Università di Bologna, viale del Risorgimento 4, 40136 Bologna, Italy |
| Abstract: | The ability to exploit energy autonomously is one of the hallmarks of life. Mastering such processes in artificial nanosystems can open technological opportunities. In the last decades, light- and chemically driven autonomous systems have been developed in relation to conformational motion and self-assembly, mostly in relation to molecular motors. In contrast, despite electrical energy being an attractive energy source to power nanosystems, its autonomous harnessing has received little attention. Herein we consider an operation mode that allows the autonomous exploitation of electrical energy by a self-assembling system. Threading and dethreading motions of a pseudorotaxane take place autonomously in solution, powered by the current flowing between the electrodes of a scanning electrochemical microscope. The underlying autonomous energy ratchet mechanism drives the self-assembly steps away from equilibrium with a higher energy efficiency compared to other autonomous systems. The strategy is general and might be extended to other redox-driven systems. |
