Electrothermal flow in dielectrophoresis of single-walled carbon nanotubes

Abstract

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