Grabbing a silicon nanowire

This is the first time we managed to grab anything with the new electrothermal silicon grippers. This model is called the three-beam gripper - it can open as well as close.
The gripper was fabricated by Dirch Hjort-Petersen, and the manipulation was done by Jakob Kjelstrup-Hansen.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• nanomanipulation
• nanotubes
• nanorobots
• nanorobotics
• nanotechnology

[ActiveStorage]

did u see that vibrational frequency at the end? ) looked like it could vibrate for quite a while

[NanoClips]

@ActiveStorage ... well in this setting it would vibrate forever, since it is fed with energy continuously - the mechanical noise in the system appears to contain frequencies close enough to the resonance frequency of the wire to make it go mad.

[hippydude89]

Would that wire be able to pierce skin? and is it too small to feel?

[NanoClips]

@hippydude89 it should be able to pierce skin.... but thats a real good question.

[hughiealonso]

What is the diameter of the wire?

[Envergure]

The video won't play.

[EpochOfReason]

When are nanowire batteries going to replace lithium ion? This is going to change the world and give EV's the edge to take on the world!

[proff23]

You rock NanoClips

[Andreas958]

what is the gripper made of?

[NanoClips]

sorry to answer you this late; optical microscopes can resolve down to around the wavelength of light. However, the resolution is not really the limit here, but the light scattered from the nanotube. Even if the nanotube is smaller than the wavelength, it may still scatter some light, making it visible in the microscope. Just like you can see stars, even if their diameter is way, way smaller than what the eye can resolve - you can see them because they emit light.