Design and computational analysis of a linear nanotube servomotor using DNA actuation

Developments in the field of nano-biodevices coupling nanostructures and biological components are of great interest in medical nanorobotics. As the fundamentals of bio/non-bio interaction processes are still poorly understood in the design of these devices, design tools and multiscale dynamics modeling approaches are necessary at the fabrication pre-project stage. This paper proposes a new concept of optimized carbon nanotube based servomotor design for drug delivery and biomolecular transport applications. The design of an encapsulated DNA-multi walled carbon nanotube (DNA@MWNT) actuator is prototyped using a molecular dynamics simulator. Then, a multiscale dynamics model from the mechanics point of view is proposed through an atomistic-continuum approach. Based on the analysis of the simulation results, a servo nanoactuator using ionic current feedback is simulated and analyzed for application as a drug delivery carrier.