TY - JOUR
T1 - Controlling the shape, orientation, and linkage of carbon nanotube features with nano affinity templates
AU - Wang, Yuhuang
AU - Maspoch, Daniel
AU - Zou, Shengli
AU - Schatz, George C.
AU - Smalley, Richard E.
AU - Mirkin, Chad A.
PY - 2006/2/14
Y1 - 2006/2/14
N2 - Directed assembly of nanoscale building blocks such as single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) into desired architectures is a major hurdle for a broad range of basic research and technological applications (e.g., electronic devices and sensors). Here we demonstrate a parallel assembly process that allows one to simultaneously position, shape, and link SWNTs with sub-100-nm resolution. Our method is based on the observation that SWNTs are strongly attracted to COOH-terminated self-assembled monolayers (COOH-SAMs) and that SWNTs with lengths greater than the dimensions of a COOH-SAM feature will align along the boundary between the COOH-SAM feature and a passivating CH3- terminated SAM. By using nanopatterned affinity templates of 16-mercaptohexadecanonic acid, passivated with 1-octadecanethiol, we have formed SWNT dot, ring, arc, letter, and even more sophisticated structured thin films and continuous ropes. Experiment and theory (Monte Carlo simulations) suggest that the COOH-SAMs localize the solvent carrying the nanotubes on the SAM features, and that van der Waals interactions between the tubes and the COOH-rich feature drive the assembly process. A mathematical relationship describing the geometrically weighted interactions between SWNTs and the two different SAMs required to overcome solvent-SWNT interactions and effect assembly is provided.
AB - Directed assembly of nanoscale building blocks such as single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) into desired architectures is a major hurdle for a broad range of basic research and technological applications (e.g., electronic devices and sensors). Here we demonstrate a parallel assembly process that allows one to simultaneously position, shape, and link SWNTs with sub-100-nm resolution. Our method is based on the observation that SWNTs are strongly attracted to COOH-terminated self-assembled monolayers (COOH-SAMs) and that SWNTs with lengths greater than the dimensions of a COOH-SAM feature will align along the boundary between the COOH-SAM feature and a passivating CH3- terminated SAM. By using nanopatterned affinity templates of 16-mercaptohexadecanonic acid, passivated with 1-octadecanethiol, we have formed SWNT dot, ring, arc, letter, and even more sophisticated structured thin films and continuous ropes. Experiment and theory (Monte Carlo simulations) suggest that the COOH-SAMs localize the solvent carrying the nanotubes on the SAM features, and that van der Waals interactions between the tubes and the COOH-rich feature drive the assembly process. A mathematical relationship describing the geometrically weighted interactions between SWNTs and the two different SAMs required to overcome solvent-SWNT interactions and effect assembly is provided.
KW - Monte Carlo simulations
KW - Rings
KW - Self-assembly
KW - Structured thin films
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U2 - 10.1073/pnas.0511022103
DO - 10.1073/pnas.0511022103
M3 - Article
C2 - 16461892
AN - SCOPUS:33144462900
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 103
SP - 2026
EP - 2031
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 7
ER -