Nanotube Nanotweezers
Philip Kim,
1*
Charles M. Lieber
12
Nanoscale electromechanical systems--nanotweezers--based on carbon
nanotubes have been developed for manipulation and interrogation of
nanostructures. Electrically conducting and mechanically robust carbon
nanotubes were attached to independent electrodes fabricated on pulled
glass micropipettes. Voltages applied to the electrodes closed and
opened the free ends of the nanotubes, and this electromechanical response was simulated quantitatively using known nanotweezer structure
and nanotube properties. The mechanical capabilities of the
nanotweezers were demonstrated by grabbing and manipulating submicron clusters and nanowires. The conducting nanotube arms of the
tweezers were also used for measuring the electrical properties of
silicon carbide nanoclusters and gallium arsenide nanowires.
1 Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences,
2 Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard
University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
*
Present address: Department of Physics, University of California,
Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
cml{at}cmliris.harvard.edu
