Manipulation of nanowires in suspension by ac electric fields

Nanowires are potential building blocks for nanoscale devices. Manipulation of nanowires in suspension has been a formidable problem. Using ac electric fields applied to strategically designed microelectrodes, nanowires in suspension can be driven to align, to chain, to accelerate in directions parallel and perpendicular to its orientation, to concentrate onto designated places, and to disperse in a controlled manner with high efficiency despite an extremely low Reynolds number at the level of 10(-5). The manipulation of nanowires can also be applied to other small elongated entities such as carbon nanotubes. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.