Manipulation and cutting of carbon nanotubes

Nanomanipulation plays an important role in nanofabrication, it is also a technology necessary in exploring the secrets of nanoworld, and it thus becomes a start point to research future nanomachine. In this study, manipulation and cutting of carbon nanotubes have been conducted in order to examine whether we can move a nanocomponent from one site to another by using the tip of atomic force microscope (AFM). The technique may also be valuable for providing the constructive materials of nanofabrication. While exploring the method for manipulating and cutting of nanotubes, some new phenomena have been observed during the process. Results show that carbon nanotubes present a feature of deformation combining bending and distortion when subjected to large mechanical forces exerted by the tip of AFM. In special cases, long carbon nanotubes can be cut into two parts, by which we can remove the part where crystal lattice is flawed, and therefore a perfect nanocomponent can be obtained.