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  • Perspective
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A roadmap for next-generation nanomotors

Nature Nanotechnology volume 20, pages 990–1000 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Since their discovery in 2004, there has been remarkable progress in research on nanomotors, from the elucidation of different propulsion mechanisms to the study of their collective behaviour, culminating in investigations into their applications in biomedicine and environmental remediation. This Perspective reviews this evolution in nanomotor research and discusses the key challenges ahead, including the need for developing advanced characterization techniques, precise motion control, materials innovation, theory and modelling, and translationally feasible in vivo biomedical applications. These challenges highlight the current limitations of synthetic nanomotors and point to exciting future opportunities to revolutionize theranostics and create ‘living’ hybrid systems. We introduce the concept of ‘systems materials’ to encompass interacting functional materials across length scales from molecular to macro. Thus, this Perspective aims to inspire future generations of researchers to advance both fundamental understanding and practical breakthroughs, thereby engineering a paradigm shift in nanomotor research.

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Fig. 1: Timeline of key breakthroughs in nanomotor development.
Fig. 2: Gaps and challenges in nanomotor development provide opportunities for future innovation.
Fig. 3: The evolution of nanomotors over 20 years and beyond.

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Acknowledgements

S.S. acknowledges funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe research and innovation programmes (grant agreement numbers 866348, i-NanoSwarms, and 101138723, MucOncoBots, 101189423, OrthoBots) and from ‘la Caixa’ Foundation under the grant agreement LCF/PR/HR21/52410022. A.S. thanks S. Sen for many stimulating discussions. A.S. also acknowledges funding by the National Science Foundation, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the Charles E. Kaufman Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. J.T. thanks the funding support from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) (C7082-21G). L.Z. thanks funding support from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council RGC (R4015-2, RFS2122-4S03, STG1/E-401/23-N). W.W. thanks the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number T2322006). K.V. acknowledges funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (GA number 101076680; PhotoSwim) and the grant PID2022-136886OA-I00 financed by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ FEDER, UE. H.H. gratefully acknowledges support from NSF grant 2230116 and ARO grant W911NF-22-1-0047. R.G. acknowledges support from the Max Planck School Matter to Life and the MaxSynBio Consortium, which are jointly funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) of Germany and the Max Planck Society. A.G. thanks the Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance Fellowships/Grants (grant number IA/S/19/2/504655). D.E.F. thanks the support of the National Science Foundation (2219221 and 1930649). S.C. acknowledges the Predoctoral AGAUR-FI Joan Oró grant (2023 FI-1 00654) funded by ‘Secretaria d’Universitats i Recerca del Departament de Recerca i Universitats de la Generalitat de Catalunya’ and by European Social Fund Plus.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), The Barcelona Institute for Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona, Spain

    Shuqin Chen & Samuel Sánchez

  2. Faculty of Physics, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Shuqin Chen

  3. Materials Science and Engineering Program, Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Donglei Emma Fan

  4. Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Donglei Emma Fan

  5. Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Heidelberg, Germany

    Peer Fischer

  6. Institute for Molecular Systems Engineering and Advanced Materials, Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    Peer Fischer

  7. Center for Nanomedicine, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Peer Fischer

  8. Department of Nano Biomedical Engineering (NanoBME), Advanced Science Institute, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Peer Fischer

  9. Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India

    Ambarish Ghosh

  10. Centre for Nano Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India

    Ambarish Ghosh

  11. Center for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University (ZMBH), Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany

    Kerstin Göpfrich

  12. Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS), Göttingen, Germany

    Ramin Golestanian

  13. Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Ramin Golestanian

  14. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Henry Hess

  15. School of Integrated Circuits, Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzhen, China

    Xing Ma

  16. Sauvage Laboratory for Smart Materials, Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzhen, China

    Xing Ma

  17. Multi-Scale Robotics Lab, Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Bradley J. Nelson

  18. Biomedical Engineering Department, Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Tania Patiño Padial

  19. Department of Chemistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Jinyao Tang

  20. Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Tarragona, Spain

    Katherine Villa

  21. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzhen, China

    Wei Wang

  22. Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Li Zhang

  23. Department of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Ayusman Sen

  24. Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Ayusman Sen

  25. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Ayusman Sen

  26. Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain

    Samuel Sánchez

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Chen, S., Fan, D.E., Fischer, P. et al. A roadmap for next-generation nanomotors. Nat. Nanotechnol. 20, 990–1000 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-01962-9

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