Manipulation of ZnO nanostructures using dielectrophoretic effect

Abstract In this paper, the dielectrophoretic manipulation of the nanostructured zinc oxide (ZnO) with microfabricated electrodes and electrode arrays had been studied. The nanorod-like ZnO prepared by the chemical solution growth, with the length of ∼10 μm, was used as the manipulation target. The electrodes and electrode arrays were prepared by standard IC process. The SEM pictures have been used to examine and evaluate the manipulation results. The influences of the pattern of electrodes, the applied frequency, the concentration and the applied voltage on the dielectrophoretic manipulation effect have been investigated to research the manipulation of particles by dielectrophoresis. We succeeded in manipulating ZnO particles along the electric field and depositing them across the gaps between two electrodes by modulating different factors. It is concluded that the nanostructured ZnO can be manipulated by dielectrophoresis and both the positive dielectrophoretic effect and the negative dielectrophoretic effect can be observed. This manipulation technique is potential for lots of application such as the construction of micro/nano sensors and the nanoelectronic devices.