skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Search for: All records

Creators/Authors contains: "Bushnak, Ibraheem"

Note: When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
What is a DOI Number?

Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from this site.

  1. Abstract The ability to exhibit life‐like oscillatory motion fueled by light represents a new capability for stimuli‐responsive materials. Although this capability has been demonstrated in soft materials like polymers, it has never been observed in molecular crystals, which are not generally regarded as dynamic objects. In this work, it is shown that molecular crystalline microwires composed of (Z)‐2‐(3‐(anthracen‐9‐yl)allylidene)malononitrile ((Z)‐DVAM) can be continuously actuated when exposed to a combination of ultraviolet and visible light. The photo‐induced motion mimics the oscillatory behavior of biological flagella and enables propagation of microwires across a surface and through liquids, with translational speeds up to 7 μm s−1. This is the first example of molecular crystals that show complex oscillatory behavior under continuous irradiation. A model that relates the rotation of the transition dipole moment between reversible E→Z photoisomerization to the microscopic torque can qualitatively reproduce how the rotational frequency depends on light intensity and polarization. 
    more » « less