Electrothermal flow in Dielectrophoresis of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

TL;DR

This paper theoretically examines how electrothermal flow influences the dielectrophoretic separation of single-walled carbon nanotubes, revealing its significant role in controlling nanotube motion and separation efficiency.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical analysis of electrothermal flow effects on SWNT dielectrophoresis, highlighting its dominance under typical experimental conditions.

Findings

Electrothermal flow controls SWNT motion near electrodes.

Increased surfactant concentration enhances electrothermal flow.

Flow pattern changes with frequency, affecting separation.

Abstract

We theoretically investigate the impact of the electrothermal flow on the dielectrophoretic separation of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT). The electrothermal flow is observed to control the motions of semiconducting SWNTs in a sizeable domain near the electrodes under typical experimental conditions, therefore helping the dielectrophoretic force to attract semiconducting SWNTs in a broader range. Moreover, with the increase of the surfactant concentration, the electrothermal flow is enhanced, and with the change of frequency, the pattern of the electrothermal flow changes. It is shown that under some typical experimental conditions of dielectrophoresis separation of SWNTs, the electrothermal flow is a dominating factor in determining the motion of SWNTs.