[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6114\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EShrinking gel is world\u2019s first material powered by nanomotors\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor the first time, the revolutionary gel gives researchers a way to use the motion of molecular machines in the real world.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018To bridge motions between the nanometric scale and the macroscopic scale, that\u2019s really the fundamental question behind the research,\u2019 said lead researcher Professor Nicolas Giuseppone, from the University of Strasbourg in France, whose work was part-funded by the European Research Council. \u2018It\u2019s a question that nanotech researchers have been asking themselves for a number of years.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA gel is normally made of a network of molecular chains connected through nodes. Prof. Giuseppone and his team from the Institut Charles Sadron at France\u2019s national research centre CNRS used rotary molecular motors as the nodes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEight orders of magnitude\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat means the molecular motors continuously wind up the filaments, amplifying their movement by eight orders of magnitude, and resulting in the gel shrinking by several centimetres.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We are demonstrating a way to put them together and on that basis we can create materials which can produce movement at our scale,\u2019 Prof. Giuseppone said.\u003Cspan style=\u0022font-size: 12.7272720336914px; line-height: 1.538em;\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018We will have materials that are no longer static.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EProfessor Nicolas Giuseppone, CNRS \/ University of Strasbourg, France.\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nature.com\/nnano\/journal\/vaop\/ncurrent\/full\/nnano.2014.315.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Estudy\u003C\/a\u003E, published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, will enable the development of a new type of material. \u2018We will have materials that are no longer static, but in a non-equilibrium dynamic,\u2019 explained Prof. Giuseppone. \u2018We could make artificial muscles.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs the molecular motors are powered by light, the gel could also allow researchers to develop technology to store solar energy. That\u2019s important because at the moment there is no easy way to keep power from solar panels.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHowever, Prof. Giuseppone cautions that it\u2019ll take five to 10 years before this technology is ready for use in commercial products.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The next step is to make movements that are more controlled, for the moment we have a universal contraction but what we want is a directional contraction with controlled speed and power,\u2019 said Prof. Giuseppone. \u2018The other thing we are going to do is to try to reuse the energy that is stored inside the material.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem style=\u0022font-size: 12.7272720336914px; line-height: 1.538em;\u0022\u003EThis video explains how the technique works. 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