Tunable multiwalled nanotube resonator

US8573031B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• The Regents of the University of California · US

Inventors

• Kenneth James Jensen · Alameda, US
• Caglar Girit · Albany, US
• William Mickelson · Albany, US
• Alexander K. Zettl · Kensington, US
• Jeffrey C. Grossman · Berkeley, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Feb 11, 2011
• Grant date: Nov 5, 2013
• Expiry date: Nov 16, 2031

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10S977/752
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A tunable nanoscale resonator has potential applications in precise mass, force, position, and frequency measurement. One embodiment of this device consists of a specially prepared multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWNT) suspended between a metal electrode and a mobile, piezoelectrically controlled contact. By harnessing a unique telescoping ability of MWNTs, one may controllably slide an inner nanotube core from its outer nanotube casing, effectively changing its length and thereby changing the tuning of its resonance frequency. Resonant energy transfer may be used with a nanoresonator to detect molecules at a specific target oscillation frequency, without the use of a chemical label, to provide label-free chemical species detection.