FAKHRI, Nikta; MACKINTOSH, F.C.; LOUNIS, Brahim; COGNET, Laurent; PASQUALI, Matteo

doi:10.1126/science.1197321

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FAKHRI, Nikta
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
The Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology
Department of Chemistry

MACKINTOSH, F.C.
Department of Physics and Astronomy [Amsterdam]

LOUNIS, Brahim
Centre de physique moléculaire optique et hertzienne [CPMOH]

Idioma

Article de revue

Este ítem está publicado en

Science. 2010-12-24, vol. 330, p. 1804-1807

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Resumen en inglés

The thermal motion of stiff filaments in a crowded environment is highly constrained and anisotropic; it underlies the behavior of such disparate systems as polymer materials, nanocomposites, and the cell cytoskeleton. Despite decades of theoretical study, the fundamental dynamics of such systems remains a mystery. Using near-infrared video microscopy, we studied the thermal diffusion of individual single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) confined in porous agarose networks. We found that even a small bending flexibility of SWNTs strongly enhances their motion: The rotational diffusion constant is proportional to the filament-bending compliance and is independent of the network pore size. The interplay between crowding and thermal bending implies that the notion of a filament's stiffness depends on its confinement. Moreover, the mobility of SWNTs and other inclusions can be controlled by tailoring their stiffness.< Leer menos

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1197321

Proyecto europeo

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Laboratoire Ondes et Matière d'Aquitaine (LOMA) - UMR 5798