Simultaneous positioning and orientation of single nano-wires using flow control

Published

January 28, 2013

Author(s)

Pramod Mathai, Peter T. Carmichael, Benjamin Shapiro, James A. Liddle

Abstract

We present a method for manipulating both the position and orientation of nanowires (NWs) by feedback control of flows that does not require that the NWs have speci fic material properties (other methods require, for example, that the NWs be electromagnetically polarizable). Moreover, unlike polarization based techniques, the orientational trapping precision using flow control does not degrade with decreasing NW cross-sectional area. We demonstrate control of NWs in a microfluidic device across a 170 nm region with on-demand trapping, translation, and rotation of dielectric, semiconducting, and metallic NWs, making it attractive for sensing and directed assembly applications. We achieve an average positional trapping accuracy and precision of 1.3 um and 0.6 um respectively, and an average orientational trapping accuracy and precision of 2.3 degrees and 5.4 degrees respectively.

Citation

RSC Advances

Volume

3

Issue

8

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1039/C2RA23190E

Keywords

Feedback flow control, electro-osmosis, position orientation control nanowires.

Citation

Mathai, P. , Carmichael, P. , Shapiro, B. and Liddle, J. (2013), Simultaneous positioning and orientation of single nano-wires using flow control, RSC Advances, [online], https://doi.org/10.1039/C2RA23190E (Accessed May 21, 2025)