Manipulation and microrheology of carbon nanotubes with laser-induced cavitation bubbles

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) are exposed to a transient and strong liquid jet flow created by a pair of differently sized laser-induced cavitation bubbles. The position and size of the bubbles are controlled with a spatial light modulator within a 15 microm thick liquid gap. Depending on the tube's position with respect to this jet flow, rotation, translation, and a bending deformation is observed with a high-speed camera recording at up to 300,000 frames per second. By measuring the decay time of the respective bending modes we determine the flexural rigidity of MWCNTs to be on the range of 0.45-4.06x10(-19) N m2. The average diameter of the MWCNTs is 117.8+/-6.7 nm with a thickness of 4.6+/-0.75 nm, yielding a Young's modulus between 0.033-0.292 TPa.