Measurement of driving force of catalytic nanomotors in dilute hydrogen peroxide by torsion balance

A simple torsion balance is designed to directly determine the force generated by catalytic nanomotor nanorods. A 1 cml silicon substrate coated with -3.1 X 10(8) nanomotors was attached to a balancing weight and submerged into different concentrations of hydrogen peroxide. The force generated through the catalytic reaction leads to a measurable torque applied to the torsion balance. The force is on the order of 10(-14) - 10(-13) N per individual nanomotor and has a linear concentration dependence with a slope of 4.82 X 10(-14) N per percentage of hydrogen peroxide in agreement with previous studies. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.