Ever smaller and more intricate—without miniaturization, we wouldn't have the components today that are required for high-performance laptops, compact smartphones or high-resolution endoscopes. Research is now being carried out in the nanoscale on switches, rotors or motors that consist of only a few atoms in order to build what are known as molecular machines. A research team at FAU has successfully built the world's smallest energy powered gear wheel with a corresponding counterpart. The nano gear unit is the first that can also be actively controlled and driven. The researchers' findings have recently been published in the journal Nature Chemistry.