Selective functionalization of carbon nanotube tips allowing fabrication of new classes of nanoscale sensing and manipulation tools
US7514214B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 20, 2004 |
| Grant date | Apr 7, 2009 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 24, 2026 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC B)Performing Operations; Transporting
- CPC primaryB82Y35/00
- WIPO fieldMicro-structural and nano-technology
- WIPO sectorChemistry
Abstract
Embodiments in accordance with the present invention relate to techniques for the growth and attachment of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNT), facilitating their use as robust and well-characterized tools for AFM imaging and other applications. In accordance with one embodiment, SWNTs attached to an AFM tip can function as a structural scaffold for nanoscale device fabrication on a scanning probe. Such a probe can trigger, with nanometer precision, specific biochemical reactions or conformational changes in biological systems. The consequences of such triggering can be observed in real time by single-molecule fluorescence, electrical, and/or AFM sensing. Specific embodiments in accordance with the present invention utilize sensing and manipulation of individual molecules with carbon nanotubes, coupled with single-molecule fluorescence imaging, to allow observation of spectroscopic signals in response to mechanically induced molecular changes. Biological macromolecules such as proteins or DNA can be attached to nanotubes to create highly specific single-molecule probes for investigations of intermolecular dynamics, for assembling hybrid biological and nanoscale materials, or for de…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.