A roadmap for next-generation nanomotors

Shuqin Chen^{1

2}, Donglei Emma Fan^{3

4}, Peer Fischer^{5

6

7

8}, Ambarish Ghosh^{9

10}, Kerstin Göpfrich¹¹, Ramin Golestanian^{12

13}, Henry Hess¹⁴, Xing Ma^{15

16}, Bradley J Nelson¹⁷, Tania Patiño Padial¹⁸, Jinyao Tang¹⁹, Katherine Villa²⁰, Wei Wang²¹, Li Zhang²², Ayusman Sen^{23

24

25}, Samuel Sánchez^{26

27}

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), The Barcelona Institute for Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona, Spain.
² Faculty of Physics, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
³ Materials Science and Engineering Program, Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
⁴ Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
⁵ Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Heidelberg, Germany.
⁶ Institute for Molecular Systems Engineering and Advanced Materials, Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
⁷ Center for Nanomedicine, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul, Republic of Korea.
⁸ Department of Nano Biomedical Engineering (NanoBME), Advanced Science Institute, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
⁹ Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.
¹⁰ Centre for Nano Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.
¹¹ Center for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University (ZMBH), Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
¹² Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS), Göttingen, Germany.
¹³ Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
¹⁴ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁵ School of Integrated Circuits, Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzhen, China.
¹⁶ Sauvage Laboratory for Smart Materials, Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzhen, China.
¹⁷ Multi-Scale Robotics Lab, Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
¹⁸ Biomedical Engineering Department, Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
¹⁹ Department of Chemistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
²⁰ Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Tarragona, Spain.
²¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzhen, China.
²² Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
²³ Department of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA. asen@psu.edu.
²⁴ Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA. asen@psu.edu.
²⁵ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA. asen@psu.edu.
²⁶ Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), The Barcelona Institute for Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona, Spain. ssanchez@ibecbarcelona.eu.
²⁷ Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain. ssanchez@ibecbarcelona.eu.

PMID: 40750672
DOI: 10.1038/s41565-025-01962-9

Review

A roadmap for next-generation nanomotors

Shuqin Chen et al. Nat Nanotechnol. 2025 Aug.

. 2025 Aug;20(8):990-1000.

doi: 10.1038/s41565-025-01962-9. Epub 2025 Aug 1.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), The Barcelona Institute for Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona, Spain.
² Faculty of Physics, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
³ Materials Science and Engineering Program, Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
⁴ Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
⁵ Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Heidelberg, Germany.
⁶ Institute for Molecular Systems Engineering and Advanced Materials, Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
⁷ Center for Nanomedicine, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul, Republic of Korea.
⁸ Department of Nano Biomedical Engineering (NanoBME), Advanced Science Institute, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
⁹ Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.
¹⁰ Centre for Nano Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.
¹¹ Center for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University (ZMBH), Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
¹² Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS), Göttingen, Germany.
¹³ Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
¹⁴ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁵ School of Integrated Circuits, Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzhen, China.
¹⁶ Sauvage Laboratory for Smart Materials, Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzhen, China.
¹⁷ Multi-Scale Robotics Lab, Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
¹⁸ Biomedical Engineering Department, Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
¹⁹ Department of Chemistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
²⁰ Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Tarragona, Spain.
²¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzhen, China.
²² Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
²³ Department of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA. asen@psu.edu.
²⁴ Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA. asen@psu.edu.
²⁵ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA. asen@psu.edu.
²⁶ Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), The Barcelona Institute for Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona, Spain. ssanchez@ibecbarcelona.eu.
²⁷ Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain. ssanchez@ibecbarcelona.eu.

PMID: 40750672
DOI: 10.1038/s41565-025-01962-9

Abstract

Since their discovery in 2004, there has been remarkable progress in research on nanomotors, from the elucidation of different propulsion mechanisms to the study of their collective behaviour, culminating in investigations into their applications in biomedicine and environmental remediation. This Perspective reviews this evolution in nanomotor research and discusses the key challenges ahead, including the need for developing advanced characterization techniques, precise motion control, materials innovation, theory and modelling, and translationally feasible in vivo biomedical applications. These challenges highlight the current limitations of synthetic nanomotors and point to exciting future opportunities to revolutionize theranostics and create 'living' hybrid systems. We introduce the concept of 'systems materials' to encompass interacting functional materials across length scales from molecular to macro. Thus, this Perspective aims to inspire future generations of researchers to advance both fundamental understanding and practical breakthroughs, thereby engineering a paradigm shift in nanomotor research.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

References

1. Paxton, W. F. et al. Catalytic nanomotors: autonomous movement of striped nanorods. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 126, 13424–13431 (2004). A landmark study that introduced chemically powered nanomotors, launching the field of synthetic nanomotor research. - PubMed
1. Fournier-Bidoz, S., Arsenault, A. C., Manners, I. & Ozin, G. A. Synthetic self-propelled nanorotors. Chem. Commun. 41, 441–443 (2005).
1. Yesin, K. B., Vollmers, K. & Nelson, B. J. Analysis and design of wireless magnetically guided microrobots in body fluids. Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Robot. Autom. 2, 1333–1338 (2004).
1. Yesin, K. B., Vollmers, K. & Nelson, B. J. in Experimental Robotics IX. Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics Vol. 21 (eds Ang, M. H. & Khatib, O.) 321–330 (Springer, 2006).
1. Golestanian, R., Liverpool, T. B. & Ajdari, A. Propulsion of a molecular machine by asymmetric distribution of reaction products. Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 220801 (2005). This research article provides the foundational theoretical framework for self-diffusiophoresis as a propulsion mechanism for nanomotors. - PubMed

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A roadmap for next-generation nanomotors

Affiliations

A roadmap for next-generation nanomotors

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources