Construction of 3D structure with virus using AFM based nanorobot

Abstract

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) is often considered as a manipulation tool only in 2D surface. Seldom documents report that it can transfer nano-objects in 3D space with high controllable precision. In this paper, we demonstrate that using developed AFM based nanorobot, viruses can be manipulated not only in 2D surface, but in 3D space. The experimental results show that a single virus can be picked up at a time and released to another special location by nanorobot. The theoretical analysis is presented to reveal the mechanism of a single virus' picking and releasing. A pyramidal structure is constructed with viruses to demonstrate the 3D manipulation capability of nanorobot.