Precision Transport, Positioning, and Assembling of Longitudinal Nano-entities

A vast variety of nano-materials made of metallic, semiconductive, magnetic, and polymers have been fabricated into 0D dots, rings, 1D wires/tubes, 2D films, and 3D architectures. Among them, 1D nanostructured wires/tubes have become the focus of recent research. Extensive work reveals that nanowires and nanotubes have unique electronic, optical, magnetic, and mechanical properties, owning to the quantum confinement effect and large surface area. Even though prototypes of device made of nanowires and nanotubes have been demonstrated, such as logic unit, in microchips, nano-lasers, optical switches, and sensors for cellular and molecular diagnosis, the application of nanowire as technologically useful materials has been greatly hindered by the difficulties in handling nanowires. With our invention, nanoparticles with high aspect ratios, such as carbon nanotubes and nanowires, can be moved and positioned onto designated locations with sub-micron precision (150 nm). The orientation, the velocity and the direction of the motion can be controlled independently. The moving direction can be either parallel or perpendicular to the orientation of the longitudinal nano-entity. The Manipulation is so versatile that the longitudinal nano-entities have been set into motion with prescribed tracks, such as squares and zigzags. The positioning of the nanoparticles is highly efficient and accurate that nanoparticles can be easily placed onto any designed place, e.g. dock onto arrays of nanodots. With this technique, nano-entities can be efficiently incorporated into devices as elements for sensors, detector, and logic units. Nanoparticles can also be used as building blocks to assemble micro-electromechanical (MEMS) devices. For demonstration purpose, a nano-oscillator has been built from elongated nano-entities and set into oscillation. Ordered Arrays of nano-motors have been assembled onto magnetic bearings. This technique is readily to be extended into 3 dimensions.

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