AFMs Wield Parts for Nanoconstruction

Abstract

Nanotechnologists dream of creating useful machines the size of a virus, but for the time being they are in the position of a tinkerer who has a pile of parts but no workbench for assembling them. They have created a handful of molecular blocks, spheres, and rods but don't have a means of manipulating and joining the tiny components. But at the Sixth Foresight Institute Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology held in Santa Clara, California, last week, a team from Washington University in St. Louis and Zyvex, an instrument company based in Richardson, Texas, showed off their technique for wielding individual carbon nanotubes with a trio of robotic arms.