Nanotube fountain pen: Towards 3D manufacturing of metallic nanostructures

Abstract The additive manufacturing of structures and devices in nanoscale yields the possibility of extending the functionalities of nanoelectronics and developing the alternative nanofabrication technologies for the post-silicon era. The nanorobotic spot-welding that is implemented by the transporting of mass inter/intra through the carbon nanotube has been demonstrated in previous works. However, the continuous feeding of the metal mass in nanoscale, as well as the servo control of such mass feeding rate and 3D path of the nanotube injector is still unsolved. In this report, we demonstrated a nanotube fountain pen (NFP). It is equipped with a metal-filled carbon nanotube (m@CNT) as a pen-tip injector to “write” and a nanotube network as an “ink reservoir”. In this way, it is able to provide the possibility of fabricating 3D nanostructures in a continuous fashion. The resolution of NFP depending on the diameter of the nanotube-injector and the mass flow rate of it can be modulated by external electrical driven energy. The development and control of NFP provide a new additive manufacturing technique in nanoscale, and thereby enables potential to develop a NFP-based metallic 3D nanoprinting system for the large-scale, high-throughput manufacturing of nanodevices.