New Methods and Tools for Nanotechnololgy

9871874 Ruoff该奖项提供了部分支持的努力，解决了纳米尺度上的物质的操纵，以形成功能性纳米结构。 新的方法和工具将被开发并用于：（i）研究一种新型的机械化学，即碳纳米管被机械地拉伸以产生用于化学反应的非常特定的原子位置（ii）可控地成形表面，操纵纳米管，并以新的非常规方式使用AFM探针构建结构;（iii）分配气体和液体分子（后者的体积低至100 nm 3），具有亚纳米位置控制（纳米管移液管）;（iv）使用精细控制的电场或磁场梯度来实现对一类新的带电或磁性粒子的时空控制用于纳米级操纵的新工具和方法的开发将围绕碳纳米管（NT）。 作为纳米技术的潜在构建块的NT的独特特征包括：独特的尺寸;中空核的存在;不寻常的机械性能;机械活化化学的可能性。 将在这项研究中开发的工具和方法将是必不可少的，以实现所提出的努力的长期目标之一-把NT的功能纳米结构的组件和工具，用于构建功能nanostructures.A压电nanostressing阶段将建立和使用施加机械应力NT的和机械激活化学反应，通过应变碳-碳键。 这种机械敏化反应的位点特异性，预计将发生在扭结区域的纳米管，是非常理想的NT的纳米技术的潜在应用。 纳米应力台也将用于阐明各种类型的NT和非常薄的石墨片（可能薄至单个原子层）的机械行为。敲击模式AFM最初是为了最大限度地减少探针和表面之间的相互作用而开发的，将以一种新的和非传统的方式用于操纵表面（上的物体），然后以高分辨率对其成像。 微加工、纳米锤击和在表面上推动物体等操作将通过控制尖端-表面相互作用的增加来实现。 由于我们最近发现AFM探针可以通过在尖端机械沉积金属颗粒来重新锐化，因此操作后的高分辨率成像将成为可能。 华盛顿大学和Zyvex开发的新AFM方法和工具将被应用于表面NT的操作（在环境条件下和在液体下）和研究NT的新的机械化学。一种纳米管移液管，能够输送小至几十到一百nm 3的液体体积。（注意，1毫微微升的水是1立方微米，100纳米3含有3000个H2O分子）将被建造并用于活细胞的基础研究和在表面上构建纳米结构。 它将能够输送气体，如有机金属化合物，这些气体可以在表面上热解，作为写入纳米级金属特征的手段，并将非常小体积的生物分子输送到细胞中。

9871874RuoffThis award provides partial support for an effort addressing the manipulation of matter on the nanoscale to form functional nanostructures. New methods and tools will be developed and used to: (i) study a new type of mechanochemistry were carbon nanotubes are mechanically strained to create very specific atom locations for chemical reaction (nanostressing stage); (ii) controllably shape surfaces, manipulate nanotubes and build structures with the AFM probe used in a new, unconventional way; (iii) dispense gas and liquid molecules (the latter in volumes down to 100 nm3) with sub-nm positional control (nanotube pipet); (iv) achieve spatiotemporal control over a new class of charged or magnetic particles using finely controlled electric fields or magnetic field gradients (designer particles).Development of new tools and methods for nanoscale manipulation will be centered around carbon nanotubes (NT). Unique features of NT's as potential building blocks for nanotechnology include: unique size; the presence of a hollow core; unusual mechanical properties; possibilities for mechanically activated chemistry. Tools and methods which will be developed in this study will be essential for achieving one of the long term objectives of the proposed effort - turning NT's into components in functional nanostructures and as tools for building functional nanostructures.A piezoelectric nanostressing stage will be built and used to apply mechanical stress to NT's and mechanically activate chemical reactions by straining carbon-carbon bonds. Site-specificity of such mechanically sensitized reactions, which are expected to occur in kinked regions of nanotubes, is very desirable for potential applications of NT's in nanotechnology. The nanostressing stage will also be used to elucidate the mechanical behavior of various types of NT's and of very thin graphite sheets (potentially as thin as a single atomic layer).Tapping mode AFM, which was originally developed to minimize the interactions between the probe and the surface, will be used in a new and unconventional way to manipulate (objects on) surfaces and then image them with high resolution. Operations such as micromachining, nanohammering, and pushing objects on surfaces will be achieved by controlled increase of tip-surface interactions. High-resolution imaging after manipulation will be possible owing to our recent discovery that AFM probes can be resharpened by mechanical deposition of metal grains at the tip. New AFM methods and tools developed at Washington University and also at Zyvex will be applied to manipulation of NT's on surfaces (both at ambient conditions and under liquids) and to study the new mechanochemistry of NT's.A nanotube pipet, capable of delivering volumes of liquids as small as several tens to a hundred nm3 (note that 1 femtoliter of water is 1 cubic micron, and that 100 nm3 contains 3000 molecules of H2O) will be built and used for fundamental studies of living cells and to construct nanostructures on surfaces. It will be capable of delivering gases, such as organometallics, which could be pyrolyzed on a surface as a means of writing nanoscale metal features, and of delivering very small volumes of biomolecules to cells.%%%***