In situ bending and recovery characterization of hollow glass nanoneedle based on nanorobotic manipulation

Abstract

Glass nanoneedles are important tools for injecting drugs and other materials into living cells. Although we know a great deal about the mechanical properties of glass structures at the millimeter scale, relatively little is known at the nanoscale. Here we investigate the mechanical performance of hollow glass nanoneedles by nanorobotic in situ manipulation inside SEM. Quartz and borosilicate nanoneedles fabricated from glass capillaries are assembled on the nanorobotic characterization system inside SEM and their behaviors during bending and recovery are studied in situ. The result indicates the glass nanoneedle could present a large elastic bending deformation (>90°). Specifically, the quartz nanoneedle takes on larger bending strength and its deformation can recover totally. In contrast, the borosilicate nanoneedle presents more flexible and still 20% of deformation is remained after 3 months. These results not only enhances our basic understanding on nanoglass materials but also provides references for practical nanomanipulation applications.