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Link to original content: https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature01823
Rotational actuators based on carbon nanotubes | Nature
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Rotational actuators based on carbon nanotubes

Nature volume 424, pages 408–410 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

Nanostructures are of great interest not only for their basic scientific richness, but also because they have the potential to revolutionize critical technologies. The miniaturization of electronic devices over the past century has profoundly affected human communication, computation, manufacturing and transportation systems. True molecular-scale electronic devices are now emerging that set the stage for future integrated nanoelectronics1. Recently, there have been dramatic parallel advances in the miniaturization of mechanical and electromechanical devices2. Commercial microelectromechanical systems now reach the submillimetre to micrometre size scale, and there is intense interest in the creation of next-generation synthetic nanometre-scale electromechanical systems3,4. We report on the construction and successful operation of a fully synthetic nanoscale electromechanical actuator incorporating a rotatable metal plate, with a multi-walled carbon nanotube serving as the key motion-enabling element.

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Figure 1: Integrated synthetic NEMS actuator.
Figure 2: Series of SEM images showing the actuator rotor plate at different angular displacements.
Figure 3: Two SEM images captured from a video recording of an a.c.-voltage-driven actuator ‘flipping’ between the extremal horizontal positions (90° and 270°).

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Acknowledgements

We thank N. Bodzin for assistance with graphics. This research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation, and by the Director, Office of Energy Research, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences Division of the US Department of Energy.

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Author notes

  1. M. S. Fuhrer

    Present address: Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742-4111, USA

  2. J. Cumings

    Present address: Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 94305-4045, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of California at Berkeley, and Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA

    A. M. Fennimore, T. D. Yuzvinsky, Wei-Qiang Han, M. S. Fuhrer, J. Cumings & A. Zettl

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  1. A. M. Fennimore
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  2. T. D. Yuzvinsky
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  3. Wei-Qiang Han
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  4. M. S. Fuhrer
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  5. J. Cumings
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  6. A. Zettl
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. Zettl.

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The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

41586_2003_BFnature01823_MOESM1_ESM.mpg

Supplementary Movie 1: These first three movie files were captured directly from an SEM. They show three different frequencies of nanoactuator oscillation. (MPG 5521 kb)

Supplementary Movie 2 (MOV 8933 kb)

Supplementary Movie 3 (MOV 10035 kb)

41586_2003_BFnature01823_MOESM4_ESM.gif

Supplementary Animation: portrays an animated image of the rotor moving through various positions in a rotation. (GIF 1002 kb)

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Fennimore, A., Yuzvinsky, T., Han, WQ. et al. Rotational actuators based on carbon nanotubes. Nature 424, 408–410 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01823

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