Macroscopic scale separation of metallic and semiconducting nanotubes by dielectrophoresis

Because of the very large differences in the polarisability of metallic and semiconducting nanotubes, dielectrophoresis suggests itself as an effective technique for separating them. This paper is an early attempt at demonstrating such separation using macroscopic electrode systems. Raman spectroscopy is used in an attempt to show the effect of dielectrophoretic forces on separating single-walled carbon nanotubes of differing electronic structure. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.