pipeline is the most common thing, because the transportation of gaseous and liquid things requires pipelines, such as tap water, heating, oil, natural gas , etc. Everyone also has trachea, blood vessels, lymphatic vessels, etc. The thinnest pipeline is generally considered to be capillaries. It is composed of a layer of endothelial cells , and the diameter is generally between 7~9 microns (7000~9000 nanometers). So are there any thinner pipelines than capillaries?
According to the Chinese Industry Information report on October 2, scientists at Johns Hopkins University in the United States used the gene technology to create an extremely thin nanotube with a diameter of only one millionth of a human hair. It has the ability to assemble, repair and not leak, and can also connect it to specific ports, and some molecules can be transported inside the pipeline. How did the pipeline like
be created? It turned out that researchers reused the DNA fragment as a building block. There are nanopore regulatory molecules on the DNA fragment. Using these nanopore regulatory molecules with biologically heuristic nanotechnology can connect these nanopores and build a long tube. The diameter of this long tube is only about 7 nanometers and a length of only a few microns, but it can allow some smaller molecules to be transported through this pipeline. The journal "Science Advances" published the results of relevant research papers.
hydrogen atom is the smallest atom with a diameter of about 0.1 nanometers. The diameter of this kind of pipeline is 7 nanometers. That is to say, the width of this kind of pipeline is only equivalent to the width of 70 hydrogen atoms arranged in a straight line. The cross-section of the pipeline can arrange 3,848 hydrogen atoms, or so many hydrogen atoms can be allowed to pass through in parallel.
Human capillaries are more than 1000 times larger than the diameter of this nanotube, and more than 100,000 such nanotubes can be placed inside. The diameter of human hair is between 0.04 and 0.3 mm, which is 10,000 to 60,000 times the diameter of this nanopipe. A hair can contain more than 10,000 million such nanopipes.
However, this DNA nanotube is not the finest artificial pipeline in the world known, because as early as May 2003, the CNRI subsidiary of Shinshu University in Japan and the CNRI subsidiary of Mitsui Products successfully developed carbon nanotubes with a diameter of only 0.4 nanometers. In 2008, scientists from the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in my country created carbon nanotubes with a diameter of 0.5 nanometers. Such fine carbon nanotubes can only barely allow more than ten hydrogen atoms to pass through in parallel.
However, DNA nanotubes still have their own unique functions. They are nanotubes made of DNA biotechnology. Therefore, this pipeline also has the function of self-growth and self-repair. In biological tissue , it can also find and connect to specific tissue structures by itself. In biological living organisms, this pipeline will also follow the tissue activities, which is more conducive to the transportation of molecules in it. These functions have laid a good foundation for gene repair technology. "This study is very clear that it is feasible to use gene self-assembly technology to build water-free nanotubes
Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biomolecular Engineering at the school, said: "This study is very clear that it is feasible to use gene self-assembly technology to build water-free nanotubes
Reference:
"Chinese Industry Information" article on October 2. "1 million times thinner than a hair: Scientists develop lossless ultrafine nanopipes"
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