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Published October 14, 2006 | Published
Journal Article Open

Flow conveying and diagnosis with carbon nanotube arrays

Abstract

Dense arrays of aligned carbon nanotubes are designed into strips, nanowicks, as a miniature wicking element for liquid delivery and potential microfluidic chemical analysis devices. Liquid wicks away along the nanowicks spontaneously. This delivery function of nanowicks enables novel fluid transport devices to run without any power input, moving parts or external pump. Flow around the opaque nanotubes can be detected either directly or indirectly. Direct signals of the flow come out of dyed liquid or from the liquid–air interface; indirect signals are detected through observing surface-tension-induced deformation and dislocation of the nanotubes. Here we show that flow progression around and inside nanowicks is sensitive to liquid properties. Different flow progression leaves different traces of liquid. These traces not only allow liquid diagnosis any time after sampling, but also enable analysis of flow at a nanoscale resolution with scanning electron microscopy.

Additional Information

© 2006 IOP Publishing Limited. Received 1 June 2006, in final form 18 July 2006. Published 7 September 2006. Print publication: Issue 19 (14 October 2006). We would like to thank Michael J Bronikowski for growing the nanotubes for this work in Microdevices Laboratory, Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This work was supported by the NASA Office of Biological and Physical Research (Award No 04520-06); and the NSF NER Program (Award CTS-030473).

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