Mechanical atomistic pincette for nanoparticle manupilation

我们开发了纳米尺寸的机械镊子，用于通过原位高分辨率透射电子显微镜直接观察纳米颗粒。我们研究了制造镊子用细金属探针的各种加工方法，即金属针的纳米尺度小型化方法。在加工方面，我们采用了机械抛光法、聚焦离子束法和接触分离法。结果，我们得到了纳米金属探针。利用这些探针，我们可以制造出碳纳米胶囊和富勒烯分子的三明治结构。除了这种纳米工艺，我们还研究了在镊子操作过程中纳米探针和纳米颗粒之间的相互作用。

We developed nanometer-sized mechanical tweezers for nanoparticle operation using direct atomic observation by in situ high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. We investigated various processing methods to fabricate fine metallic probes for tweezers, i.e., nanometer scale miniaturization methods of metallic needles. For the processing, we used mechanical polishing methods, focused ion beam processing, and contact-separation methods. As result, we obtained nanometer metallic probes. Using the probes, we could produce sandwiched structures of carbon nanocapsules and fullerene molecules. In addition to such nanocraft, we also investigated interaction between nanoprobes and nanoparticles during tweezers operation.