Towards controlled manipulation and assembly of ZnO nanowires for nanoscale imaging applications

In this letter the authors develop a technique enabling both facile alignment and placement of ZnO nanorods onto the support electrodes in a highly controlled manner and with high yield. The approach takes advantage of the surface tension effect and the formation of nonvanishing electrical dipoles at the metal-semiconductor and semiconductor/semiconductor interfaces in highly nonpolar solvents. Experimental tests confirmed excellent mechanical resilience of single crystal ZnO nanorods and overall stability of the engineered assemblies. Finally, use of ZnO nanorods as tips for high-resolution atomic force microscope nanoscale imaging is demonstrated. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.