Brownian motion of tethered nanowires

Abstract

Brownian motion of slender particles near a boundary is ubiquitous in biological systems and in nanomaterial assembly, but the complex hydrodynamic interaction in those systems is still poorly understood. Here, we report experimental and computational studies of the Brownian motion of silicon nanowires tethered on a substrate. An optical interference method enabled direct observation of microscopic rotations of the slender bodies in three dimensions with high angular and temporal resolutions. This quantitative observation revealed anisotropic and angle-dependent hydrodynamic wall effects: rotational diffusivity in inclined and azimuth directions follows different power laws as a function of the length, ∼L-2.5 and ∼L-3, respectively, and is more hindered for smaller inclined angles. In parallel, we developed an implicit simulation technique that takes the complex wire-wall hydrodynamic interactions into account efficiently, the result of which agreed well with the experimentally observed angle-dependent diffusion. The demonstrated techniques provide a platform for studying the microrheology of soft condensed matters, such as colloidal and biological systems near interfaces, and exploring the optimal self-assembly conditions of nanostructures. © 2014 American Physical Society.