https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2015-02466-y
Regular Article
The unlikely high efficiency of a molecular motor based on active motion
Institute of Physics, Humboldt University, Newtonstr. 15, 12489 Berlin, Germany
a e-mail: ebeling@physik.hu-berlin.de
Received: 24 March 2015
Revised: 18 May 2015
Published online: 24 July 2015
The efficiency of a simple model of a motor converting chemical into mechanical energy is studied analytically. The model motor shows interesting properties corresponding qualitatively to motors investigated in experiments. The efficiency increases with the load and may for low loss reach high values near to 100 percent in a narrow regime of optimal load. It is shown that the optimal load and the maximal efficiency depend by universal power laws on the dimensionless loss parameter. Stochastic effects decrease the stability of motor regimes with high efficiency and make them unlikely. Numerical studies show efficiencies below the theoretical optimum and demonstrate that special ratchet profiles my stabilize efficient regimes.
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag, 2015
