Fluid flow-assisted dielectrophoretic assembly of nanowires

The dielectrophoretic assembly of silicon carbide (SiC) nanowires in a microfluidic flow is shown to enhance the orientation and deposition yield of nanowires. The fluid flow delivers and orients the nanowires in the vicinity of a gap, and they are attracted and deposited by a dielectrophoretic force. Depending upon their lengths, the nanowires are selectively attracted to the gap because the dielectrophoretic force is largest when the lengths are comparable to the gap size. Precise control over the fluid flow and dielectrophoresis shows various interesting phenomena such as landing, shifting, and uniform spacing of nanowires during the assembly process. As a result, the precise control enables the selective positioning of nanowires only at the gap where the fluid direction is consistent with the electric field orientation.