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Updated: Apr 15, 2026
Fabrication, Densification, and Replica Molding of 3D Carbon Nanotube Microstructures
Published on: July 2, 2012
Anisotropic micro-cloths fabricated from DNA-stabilized carbon nanotubes: one-stop manufacturing with electrode
1Institute for Nanotechnology, Kochi University of Technology, Tosa-Yamada, 782-8502 Kochi Japan.
Abstract:
Among a variety of solution-based approaches to fabricate anisotropic films of aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs), we focus on the dielectrophoretic assembly method using AC electric fields in DNA-stabilized CNT suspensions. We demonstrate that a one-stop manufacturing system using electrode needles can draw anisotropic DNA-CNT hybrid films of 10 to 100 µm in size (i.e., free-standing DNA-CNT micro-cloths) from the remaining suspension into the atmosphere while maintaining structural order. It has been found that a maximal degree of polarization (ca. 40%) can be achieved by micro-cloths fabricated from a variety of DNA-CNT mixtures. Our results suggest that the one-stop method can impart biocompatibility to the downsized CNT films and that the DNA-stabilized CNT micro-cloths directly connected to an electrode could be useful for biofuel cells in terms of electron transfer and/or enzymatic activity.
