System and method for the manipulation, classification sorting, purification, placement, and alignment of nano fibers using electrostatic forces and electrographic techniques

A method for transporting nanofibers comprising:

• providing a plurality of charged nanofibers in a liquid dielectric medium configured to maintain a respective induced charge on at least a portion of the plurality of nanofibers suspended therein, comprising a charge director, configured to electrochemically charge the plurality of nanofibers, said nanofibers being freely suspended and motile within the liquid dielectric medium, wherein the resistivity of the a liquid dielectric medium is between 109 and 1.25×1011 ohm-cm, and wherein the charge director is present in an amount sufficient to generate an electrochemically induced charge to electrostatically maintain the accumulated nanofibers at the dielectric barrier and in an amount limited to maintain an induced charge on the suspended and motile nanofibers;
• providing an electrode, having at least a portion separated by a low leakage dielectric barrier from the medium, wherein an electric field between the electrode and a counterelectrode is adapted configured to extend through the dielectric barrier and the liquid dielectric medium, the dielectric barrier being configured to prevent discharge of an induced charge on charged nanofibers in contact therewith while nanofibers in contact with the electrode are ohmically discharged and charged with an induced charge of opposite polarity, the liquid dielectric medium having a conductivity sufficiently low to preserve the induced charge formed on the nanofibers;
• imposing an electrostatic potential on the electrode with respect to the counterelectrode, extending through the liquid dielectric medium, to thereby induce an electrostatic force and a dielectrophoretic force on the charged nanofibers;
• and
• migrating, under influence of the electric field, at least a portion of the charged nanofibers freely suspended within the liquid dielectric medium toward the dielectric barrier to form at least one accumulated layer thereon having a higher density of nanofibers than in a bulk of the liquid dielectric medium, the accumulated charged nanofibers maintaining their charge after contacting the dielectric barrier, a migration of a nanofiber being dependent on at least the electrical field proximate to the fiber and a respective nanofiber conductivity,
• wherein charged nanofibers selectively accumulate in a dielectrophoretically aligned fashion at the dielectric barrier but not at the electrode, further comprising preserving the alignment of the accumulated layer of nanofibers at the dielectric barrier after removal of the electric field.