3D microfabrication of single-wall carbon nanotube/polymer composites by two-photon polymerization lithography

摘要

We present a method to develop single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT)/polymercomposites into arbitrary three-dimensional micro/nano structures. Our approach,based on two-photon polymerization lithography, allows one to fabricatethree-dimensional SWCNT/polymer composites with a minimum spatial resolution of afew hundreds nm. A near-infrared femtosecond pulsed laser beam was focused onto aSWCNT-dispersed photo resin, and the laser light solidified a nanometric volume of theresin. The focus spot was three-dimensionally scanned, resulting in the fabrication ofarbitrary shapes of SWCNT/polymer composites. SWCNTs were uniformlydistributed throughout the whole structures, even in a few hundreds nm thicknanowires. Furthermore, we also found an intriguing phenomenon that SWCNTs wereself-aligned in polymer nanostructures, promising improvements in mechanical andelectrical properties. Our method has great potential to open up a wide range ofapplications such as micro- and nanoelectromechanical systems, micro/nano actuators,sensors, and photonics devices based on CNTs.