2D noncontact manipulation of a single silver nanowire

In this work, we have put forward and demonstrated a noncontact manipulation strategy that uses an ultrasonic micro-beak to suck, align, trap and transfer a single nanowire in water film on the surface of a glass substrate. The sucking and trapping force is generated by acoustic streaming eddies flowing into the micro-beak tip in ultrasonic vibration, from the front of the micro-beak and along the direction perpendicular to micro-beak vibration. A nanowire in front of the micro-beak can be trapped under micro-beak and rotated to the direction perpendicular to the micro-beak vibration during the sucking process. Sucking range of the micro-beak becomes larger as its vibration increases, and the transfer speed of a sucked nanowire depends on its relative position to the micro-beak. A trapped nanowire, which is not in contact with the micro-beak, can be dragged on the substrate surface by moving the micro-beak, along an arbitrary 2D path on substrate in the water film.