Abstract
To manipulate liquid matter at the nanometer scale, we have developed a robotic assembly equipped with a hollow atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilever that can handle femtolitre volumes of liquid. The assembly consists of four independent robots, each sugar cube sized with four degrees of freedom. All robots are placed on a single platform around the sample forming a nano-workbench (NWB). Each robot can travel the entire platform and has a minimum position resolution of 5 nm both in-plane and out-of-plane. The cantilever chip was glued to the robotic arm. Dispensing was done by the capillarity between the substrate and the cantilever tip, and was monitored visually through a microscope. To evaluate the performance of the NWB, we have performed three experiments: clamping of graphene with epoxy, mixing of femtolitre volume droplets to synthesize gold nanoparticles and accurately dispense electrolyte liquid for a nanobattery.
Highlights
One of the goals within the field of nanotechnology is to develop novel tool systems and devices that are capable of manipulating objects at nanoscale with extreme precision and resolution [1]
We have developed a hollow atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilever that can handle femtolitre volumes of liquid [6,7]
The assembly of the NWB resulted in a well-mounted robotic arena on top of the inverted microscope that had an opened window in the center, such that the lens from the inverted microscope could have access to view the sample during manipulation
Summary
One of the goals within the field of nanotechnology is to develop novel tool systems and devices that are capable of manipulating objects at nanoscale with extreme precision and resolution [1]. In order to satisfy such critical requirement, different tools have been developed, among which the atomic force microscope (AFM) started to attract widespread attention due to numerous applications in biological and materials science technologies [2,3]. Researchers developed AFM-based nanomanipulation into a major technique that can be used in variety of applications [4,5]. The conventional AFM cantilevers have one sharp tip as the end-effector that can apply or detect a point force at the atomic scale. We have extended its capability from manipulating objects to manipulating small volume liquids. We have developed a hollow AFM cantilever that can handle femtolitre volumes of liquid [6,7]
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