Ana Villarès wins the ‘Rising Stars in Pays de la Loire’ scheme for her NANOMACH project

The 'Rising Stars in Pays de la Loire' » scheme set up by the Pays de la Loire Region supports the most promising young researchers in laboratories in the region, giving them the means to develop their research projects so that they can gain recognition at European or national level more quickly. Ana Villares from the Nanostructured Assemblies team, a winner in this scheme, is receiving support for the Nanomach project, which aims to manufacture new biosourced molecular machines powered by renewable resources.

The Nanomach project aims to manufacture molecular machines whose ‘arms’ will be cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs). Molecular machines are systems that transform energy into linear or rotational motion on a molecular scale. The major challenge in the design of molecular machines is the transfer of energy from the molecular level to the macroscopic scale. Nanomach's challenge is therefore to fabricate systems containing grafted CNCs with chemical functionalities that can perform molecular work, and transfer this energy from the angstrom (molecular motor, 0.2 nm) to the nanometric scale (cellulose nanocrystal, 200-500 nm).

In this project, the ‘motor’ energy of different functionalities, such as thermostimulable polymers, pH-sensitive dendrimers and photosensitive molecules, will be used to displace CNCs. We will study the grafting of the ‘motor’ functionality onto the reducing end of the CNCs, their structural characterisation, and the evaluation of the displacement of the ‘arms’ (cellulose nanocrystals). The molecular work will be used to change the properties of CNC assemblies, such as mechanical properties or porosity, by controlling their arrangement. The project will thus develop a new generation of nanodevices for the manufacture of bio-inspired artificial muscles, nanopins, nanomembranes and nanovalves.

The use of CNCs as arms that move by the action of a molecular motor powered by sustainable sources is a pioneering proposal in the field of molecular machines. This project will provide the knowledge to design and create molecular machines according to the requirements for specific applications. CNCs are suitable candidates for the fabrication of nanomachines thanks to their excellent mechanical properties, thermal stability and optical characteristics. The introduction of ‘motor’ functions on the CNC surface will open up new horizons as new nanomachines, for example, in the biomedical field due to the non-toxicity and biocompatibility of cellulose.