Optical nanoactuators for nanomachines and microfluidic chips
Over the past 2 years we have developed and patented a new actuator which is based on composite polymer/metal nanoparticles. Originally designed to create strong reversible colour changes, we found that the forces generated in the actuation exceed current microscale devices by nearly two orders of magnitude (weight for weight). We have thus protected and developed this possibility using my Advanced ERC project, LINASS, together with Cambridge Enterprise (CE, the commercialisation arm of the University of Cambridge). We have now reached the stage where we believe that this can become commercially interesting, have progressed to a better understanding of the fundamental processes, and have some idea of the applications that it might enable. The PoC project here is thus conceived to create demonstrators in two related domains: one offers new possibilities in advancing the established technology of microfluidic chips, while the other opens up a new space entirely, by making DNA nano-machines active and feasibly exploitable.