Nanometre-scale tubules made of self-assembled molecules have been designed to expand and contract with changing temperature, pumping molecules out of their interior.
Nanotubes are normally too rigid to allow major structural changes, thanks to the bonds that hold their shape. Myongsoo Lee at Seoul National University and his colleagues created pulsating nanotubules from bent carbon-based chains that stack together in water. The 'arms' of the chains overlap to form staggered hexagonal rings that then assemble into a tube. When the temperature rises or falls, the segments slide against each other and the tubule expands or contracts, undergoing extensive structural changes but maintaining its hollow arrangement.
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Pulsating tubes act as pumps. Nature 489, 476–477 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/489476d
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/489476d
