Nanomotors are devices that convert electrical, chemical, light, and other kinds of energy to mechanical motion and are designed to work with matter on an atomic scale.
Mobility has been implemented in several ways by converting light, heat, electromagnetic fields, and chemical reactions to mechanical energy.
Nanomotors are key in many sectors of science, including the field of medicine, where they are employed to explore or interact with targeted cells to achieve a variety of goals that were once impossible or theoretical.
One of the major uses of nanomotors is as probes to detect cancer cells; researchers used magnet-driven nanomotors to observe and map changes in an environment infected by a tumour model that imitated the condition of a tissue affected by breast cancer.
While the implementation of nanobots in medicine is a burgeoning field, it comes with its share of limitations, concerns, and complexities.
In order to be used on patients, nanomotors must be tested rigorously on parameters such as cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, immunotoxicity and others.
The sophisticated design and development of nanobots, along with its operational expertise induces high costs, making it difficult to scale-up the production.
Nanomotors offer the potential to revolutionize how we approach tasks like drug delivery, invasive surgeries, and cancer detection, but there are significant challenges that must be addressed, including concerns about biocompatibility, production costs, and data privacy.
As research continues, rigorous testing will be important to ensure these technologies are safe and effective for widespread use.
The ethical challenge of privacy is often brought into conversation, requiring highly secure data storage systems and ironclad privacy policies and security systems.