Simulation on the Dielectrophoretic Assembly of Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract

Dielectrophoresis (DEP) has been verified to be an efficient means of assembling carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for various applications. This paper simulates the electric field distribution of the quadruple electrode structure when the external AC voltage is applied between a pair of opposite electrodes. There exist induced electric potentials between high voltage electrodes and floating electrodes and thus floating electrodes seriously change the field distribution. For a pair of wide parallel electrodes, the deposition of one CNT bridging the electrode pair will greatly alter the local electric field and repel the further deposition of CNTs in the vicinity. The screening distance is relevant with the width of the electrode gap, which provides a way to estimate the density of assembled CNTs between the electrode pair.