Rodríguez Parrondo, Juan ManuelBlanco, J. M.Cao García, Francisco JavierBrito, Ricardo2023-06-202023-06-201998-08-010295-507510.1209/epl/i1998-00348-5https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/58505©EDP Sciences. This work has been financially supported by Dirección General de Investigación Científica y Técnica (DGICYT) (Spain) Project No. PB94-0265. JMB and FJC acknowledge financial support from the program Becas de Colaboración of the Ministerio de Educación (Spain).The efficiency of different types of Brownian motors is calculated analytically and numerically. We find that motors based on flashing ratchets present a,low efficiency and an unavoidable entropy production. On the other hand, a certain class of motors based on adiabatically changing potentials, named reversible ratchets, exhibit a higher efficiency and the entropy production can be arbitrarily reduced.engjournal articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1209/epl/i1998-00348-5http://iopscience.iop.org/http://arxiv.org/pdf/cond-mat/9803302.pdfopen access536Thermal ratchetsFluctuationTermodinámica2213 Termodinámica