A new technique to construct the micro and nano fluidic system using a single wall carbon nanotube

Abstract

A novel technique to construct a nanofluidic device that consists of a single wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) and a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microchannel is presented. The nanofluidic device was made using dielectrophoretic (DEP) trapping of SWCNT followed by soft lithography technique. A SWCNT can be seamlessly embedded in a PDMS microfluidic channel using this technique. Moreover, controlling PDMS curing condition allowed us to make both devices with and without SWCNT (the device without SWCNT has a PDMS nanochannel instead of SWCNT nanochannel). Simple flow pass tests were performed for the fabricated nanofluidic devices with and without SWCNT. An immediate fluid flow was observed in the device with SWCNT while significant flow resistance in the device without SWCNT.