Influence of thermal fluctuations on the interactions between nanoscale particles

We present a method to investigate the influences of the thermal fluctuations on the nanometer-sized particle in pickup manipulation by an atomic force microscope (AFM). We show that thermal fluctuations can play an important and even major role in the interaction between particles at room temperature. Moreover, thermal fluctuations always have an opposing effect on the particle interactions. The deterministic directional motion of a particle governed by the interfacial properties of the nanoparticles becomes non-deterministic, with a reduction of the adhesion probability up to 44% under different strength of the thermal fluctuations.