MEDIA RELEASE
A Guinness World Record for Singapore with A*STAR IMRE’s world’s
smallest working gears
The Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), a research institute of
Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), puts Singapore into
the Guinness Book of World Records with its controllable, molecule-sized gears, which are
officially the world’s smallest! The gears are up 100,000 times smaller than the width of a
single strand of hair and can only be viewed using powerful microscopes.
1. Singapore, 05 September 2011 – It’s official! Researchers from IMRE have put
Singapore into the Guinness Book of World Records by successfully demonstrating the
world’s smallest fully controlled rotation of a molecule-sized gear. The research opens the
way for the future development of molecule-sized machines that may lead to innovations
like pocket-sized supercomputers, miniature energy harvesting devices and data
computing on atomic scale electronic circuits.
2. Before the team’s success, reported experiments attempting to rotate single molecules
resulted in their random and uncontrolled rotation. The scientists from IMRE were able to
solve the matter by manipulating the molecule with the tip of a Scanning Tunnelling
Microscope, which is a powerful microscopy tool capable of imaging materials down to
their atoms but which can also be used to manipulate single molecules and atoms on
conductive surfaces. These experiments were done at cryogenic temperatures, of
approximately -266°C, in an ultrahigh vacuum environment.
3. Looking like a wheel, the gear is made out of a hexa-t-butyl-pyrimidopentaphenylbenzene
(C64N2H76; HB-NBP) molecule, which consists of a central core composed of one
pyrimidine and five phenyl rings all connected to a central planar phenyl. This is
connected to the ‘spokes’ of the wheel which are made up of six t-butyl outer groups that
lift the central molecule core from the substrate surface. The molecule was mounted on
an atom-sized impurity that acted as a pinning axle and manipulated using the
microscope’s tip which turned the molecule step-by-step.
4. “This is an example of pioneering science that is technologically significant. With such
innovations at the molecular level, today's molecules may be tomorrow's machines,”
explained Prof Andy Hor, IMRE’s Executive Director.
5. The breakthrough gear was developed in 2009 and was published in one of science’s
most prestigious materials research journals, Nature Materials.
– END –
Encl.
Annex A: A*STAR Corporate Profiles
Annex B: Image of molecule-sized gear
For media enquiries, please contact:
Mr Eugene Low
Manager, Corporate Communications
for Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE)
3, Research Link
Singapore 117602
DID
+65 6874 8491
Mobile +65 9230 9235
Email [email protected]
For technical enquiries, please contact:
Dr We-Hyo Soe
Scientist III
Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE)
3, Research Link
Singapore 117602
DID
+65 6874 1993
Email [email protected]
Dr Carlos de Jesus Manzano Garcia
Scientist II
Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE)
3, Research Link
Singapore 117602
DID
+65 6874 8604
Email [email protected]
Annex A - A*STAR Corporate Profiles
About the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE)
The
Institute
of
Materials
Research
and
Engineering
(IMRE)
is
a
research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). The
Institute has capabilities in materials analysis & characterisation, design & growth, patterning
& fabrication, and synthesis & integration. We house a range of state-of-the-art equipment for
materials research including development, processing and characterisation. IMRE conducts a
wide range of research, which includes novel materials for organic solar cells, photovoltaics,
printed electronics, catalysis, bio-mimetics, microfluidics, quantum dots, heterostructures,
sustainable materials, atom technology, etc. We collaborate actively with other research
institutes, universities, public bodies, and a wide spectrum of industrial companies, both
globally and locally. For more information about IMRE, please visit www.imre.a-star.edu.sg.
About the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)
The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) is the lead agency for fostering
world-class scientific research and talent for a vibrant knowledge-based and innovation-driven
Singapore. A*STAR oversees 14 biomedical sciences and physical sciences and engineering
research institutes, and six consortia & centres, located in Biopolis and Fusionopolis as well
as their immediate vicinity. A*STAR supports Singapore's key economic clusters by providing
intellectual, human and industrial capital to its partners in industry. It also supports extramural
research in the universities, and with other local and international partners. For more
information about A*STAR, please visit www.a-star.edu.sg.
Annex B - Image of molecule-sized gear
The gear is made out of a hexa-t-butylpyrimidopentaphenylbenzene
(C64N2H76;
HB-NBP)
molecule, which consists of a central core composed of
one pyrimidine and five phenyl rings all connected to a
central planar phenyl. This is connected to the ‘spokes’
of the wheel which is made up of six t-butyl outer
groups that lift the central molecule core, or ‘hub’ from
the substrate surface.
‘Spokes’
Central core