Qualitative evidence of the flexoelectric effect in a single multi-wall carbon nanotube by nanorobotic manipulation

Abstract

The flexoelectric effect corresponds to the linear variation of the electric polarization of a material subjected to a strain gradient (i.e., during its mechanical bending). Unlike piezoelectricity, it also exists in non-centrosymmetric materials. Furthermore, due to the gradient term, its magnitude can increase as the size of the system decreases. Thanks to this effect, nanoscale systems could be used to harvest thermal vibration energy to power a microdevice. These could be multi-wall carbon nanotubes since they are known to bend easily in an elastic manner. However, it is very challenging to experimentally measure the flexoelectric behavior of a single multi-wall carbon nanotube due to its small size (less than 50 nm in diameter), to the low level of induced charges, and to the need to vary the imposed stress. To progress in this direction, a six-degree-of-freedom robot with a fiber tip is used inside a dual-beam microscope to pick up few single carbon nanotubes from a tangle and connect them to the fiber tip. After ion-soldering the two tips, each carbon nanotube is dynamically bent several times while monitoring the brightness of the bending area and its effective radius of curvature. This allowed us to demonstrate qualitatively the flexoelectric effect at the level of a single multi-wall carbon nanotube.