Experimental Overview
Distance Along Dumbbell
Energy
2+
Energy
Barrier µ
Repulsion Force
4+
The
synthetic motor molecule, rotaxane, linearly
shuttles its positively charged ring element
through a redox reaction of the neutral,
though electron rich, TTF unit.
By
using an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM),
we can probe the repulsive force provided
by the TTF2+-ring interaction and thereby determine the switching force of an individual rotaxane motor molecule.