Nanotube nanotweezer

The combination of high strength and electrical conductivity can be combined to produce highly novel phenomena. For example, in 1999 Lieber and co-workers prepared "nanotube nanotweezers". Two nanotubes were attached to independent electrodes and positioned near each other. When a voltage bias was placed across the two, the two nanotubes reversibly bent toward each other, fully mimicking the motions of a tweezer. These electrically activated tweezers can grab and manipulate polystyrene microspheres or silicon carbide nanoclusters. This early work could presage the development of true nanomachines that could perform unprecedented operations on a near-atomic distance scale. 

Romero-Nieto, C., et al., Tetrathiafulvalene-based nanotweezers - noncovalentbinding of carbon nanotubes in aqueous media with charge transfer implications. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2012.134(22) p. 9183-9192. 

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