Classification scheme for nanoobjects
View Patent ↗A method is provided for classifying nanoobjects having different electrical properties, such as conductivities and permittivities. The method includes: suspending nanoobjects having different electrical properties in a liquid medium; passing the liquid medium through a microchamber; and filtering nanoobjects having a first type of electrical property from the liquid medium by applying an electric field to the liquid medium in the microchamber.
1. A method for manipulating nanoobjects having different electrical properties, comprising:
modeling a nanoobject as a cylinder;
deriving a model that determines force at multiple points along length of the cylinder;
suspending nanoobjects having different types of electrical properties in a liquid medium;
generating a dielectrophoretic force within the liquid medium using the derived model; and
manipulating movement of nanoobjects through the use of the dielectrophoretic force, wherein nanoobjects having a first type of electrical property are manipulated in a manner which is different than nanoobjects having a second type of electrical property which is different than the first type of electrical property.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprises separating bundles of nanoobjects within the liquid medium using sonication and centrifugation.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein generating a dielectrophoretic force further comprises applying a non-uniform electric field to the liquid medium.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein generating a dielectrophoretic force further comprises applying an AC voltage at a specified frequency to an electrode pair immersed within the liquid medium.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein manipulating movement of nanoobjects further comprises attracting nanoobjects having a first type of electrical property to the electrode pair.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein manipulating movement of nanoobjects further comprises attracting nanoobjects having a conducting property to the electrode pair and repelling nanoobjects having a semi-conducting property from the electrode pair.
7. The method of claim 1 further comprises applying an AC voltage at a frequency greater than 10 6 hertz to electrodes immersed within the liquid medium, thereby attracting nanoobjects having a conducting property to the electrodes.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the force model is further defined as
T
=
-
3
π
r
2
ɛ
m
Im
{
f
~
CM
}
∫
x
0
x
L
1
+
(
f
′
(
x
)
)
2
E
2
ⅆ
x
where r is a radius of a particle, ∈ m is permittivity of a suspending medium, E is an electric field applied to the carbon nanotube and {tilde over (f)} CM Clausius-Mossotti factor.
9. A method of partitioning nanoobjects having different electrical properties, comprising:
suspending nanoobjects having different electrical properties in an liquid medium;
passing the liquid medium through a microchamber;
applying an AC voltage at a specified frequency to an electrode pair immersed within the liquid medium to generate the non-uniform electric field;
attracting nanoobjects having a conducting property to the electrode pair and repelling nanoobjects having a semi-conducting property from the electrode pair; and
vibrating the microchamber while passing another liquid medium which does not contain any nanoobjects through the microchamber, thereby separating the nanoobjects having a conducting property from the electrode pair and suspending the nanoobjects in the another liquid medium.
10. The method of claim 9 further comprises separating bundles of nanoobjects within the liquid medium using sonication prior to filtering the nanoobjects.
11. The method of claim 10 further comprises selecting nanoobjects of different sizes using centrifugation after separating bundles of nanoobjects and prior to filtering the nanoobjects.
12. The method of claim 9 further comprises attracting nanobjects having the first type of electrical property to the electrode pair and repelling nanoobjects having a second type of electrical property which is different than the first type of electrical property.
13. The method of claim 9 further comprises delivering the nanoobjects having a semi-conducting property through a microprobe to a substrate.
14. The method of claim 13 further comprises generating an electric field proximate to the microprobe to facilitate movement of the nanoobjects through the microprobe.
15. The method of claim 13 further comprises generating an electric field proximate to the microprobe to facilitate movement of the nanoobjects onto the substrate.
16. The method of claim 13 further comprises generating an electric field between electrodes formed on the microprobe and electrodes formed on the substrate.
17. The method of claim 9 further comprises delivering the nanoobjects having a conducting property through a microprobe to a substrate.
18. The method of claim 9 further comprises applying an AC voltage at a frequency greater than 10 6 hertz to electrodes immersed within the liquid medium, thereby attracting nanoobjects having a conducting property to the electrodes.
19. A method for manipulating a nanoobject, comprising:
modeling a nanoobject as a cylinder formed by a line of adjacent particles;
deriving a force model for a nanoobject subject to a non-uniform electric field based on said modeling, where the force model determines distribution of force at different points along a length of the nanobject; and
manipulating a nanoobject using the force model.
20. The method of claim 19 wherein the force model is further defined as
T
=
-
3
π
r
2
ɛ
m
Im
{
f
~
CM
}
∫
x
0
x
L
1
+
(
f
′
(
x
)
)
2
E
2
ⅆ
x
where r is a radius of a nanoobject particle, ∈ m is permittivity of a suspending medium, E is an electric field applied to the nanoobjects and {tilde over (f)} CM is Clausius-Mossotti factor.
21. The method of claim 19 wherein manipulating the nanoobjects further comprises controlling force experienced by the nanoobjects by adjusting a frequency of an electric field applied to the nanoobjects.
22. A method for manipulating nanoobjects having different electrical properties, comprising:
modeling a nanoobject as a cylinder comprised of a plurality of particles in a line;
deriving a model that determines distribution of force at each particle along the cylinder;
suspending nanoobjects having different types of electrical properties in a liquid medium;
generating a dielectrophoretic force within the liquid medium using the derived model; and
manipulating movement of nanoobjects through the use of the dielectrophoretic force, wherein nanoobjects having a first type of electrical property are manipulated in a manner which is different than nanoobjects having a second type of electrical property which is different than the first type of electrical property.