Mechanical bottom-up nanoassembling and nanomanipulation using shape memory alloy nanogripper

Materials on the nanoscale possess certain unique properties and advantages compared to those in the bulk form. Nanomaterials are classified into 0D (nanodots, nanoparticles), 1D (nanotubes, nanowires), 2D (graphene), and 3D materials depending on their size/dimensions. Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are smart materials that exhibit the unique property of a shape change upon exposure to a change in temperature. Nowadays, attempts are being made to take advantage of shape memory materials to develop solutions for mechanical and electrical integration and assembling nanomaterials. The combination of nanomaterials and SMAs helps to tailor the properties and fabricate a number of nanodevices based on individual nanoobjects. In recent times a broad range of proof-of-concept nanodevices, including nanolasers and nanosensors based on nanowires and carbon nanotubes (CNTs), field-effect transistors (nano-FETs), etc. have been developed. Such nanodevices serve as attractive building blocks for hierarchical assembly. This offers many opportunities for creating micro- and macrodevices and functional arrays through the bottom-up and hybrid paradigm. The bottom-up approach involves five different steps: (1) producing nanodevices to tailor (make) nanomaterials; (2) etching (cleaning), passivating, or doping the surface of the nanomaterials; (3) cutting nanomaterials into individual components; (4) fabricating elements and organizing these elements or components into nanodevices; and (5) linking (interconnecting and integrating) individual nanodevices together for the micro and macro world. This chapter surveys the emerging technology of 3D nanomanipulation based on the smallest and fastest nanotweezers produced based on the new shape memory composite materials and their application for the manipulation of real nanoobjects like nanotubes and nanowires. The prospects of the application of 3D nanomanipulation in nanomanufacturing via mechanical nanoassembling, bottom-up mechanical nanoassembling, and nanointegration, which can in many cases replace very expensive top-down nanolithography, are discussed.