Carbon nanotube alignment using meniscus action

Effective, large-scale alignment of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) is necessary for making them a useful nanoelectronic technology. While techniques have been developed to align SWNTs during growth or through dielectrophoresis, no technique to date can align SWNTs on a large-scale while controlling SWNT density and taking advantage of chirally pure SWNTs. We present a novel alignment technique using mechanical action only through lateral meniscus movement between a hydrophobic and hydrophilic surface. The SWNTs have an average alignment of 94.6 ± 31.9° relative to the meniscus motion direction, with a SWNT density of ~7 SWNTs/¿m. We also show that that our technique can easily be extended to a larger, manufacturing-type process.