Title: Spiral motion of carbon atoms and C₆₀ fullerenes inside single-walled carbon nanotubes

Authors: Y. Chan, N. Thamwattana, James M. Hill

Addresses: Nanomechanics Group, School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia. ' Nanomechanics Group, School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia. ' Nanomechanics Group, School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia

Abstract: In this paper, we investigate the motion of a carbon atom and a C₆₀ fullerene inside a carbon nanotube. The pairwise molecular energy between molecules arising from the van der Waals forces is approximated by performing surface integrals. In the absence of any thermal fluctuations, the carbon atom or the C₆₀ molecule will oscillate in an axial direction inside the carbon nanotube. However, any thermal fluctuations will tend to induce a spiral-like motion of the atom or the C₆₀ molecule. Our results also indicate that the thermal fluctuations reduce the general oscillatory frequency for the C₆₀ molecule inside the nanotube due to the energy dissipation during the unstable spiral motion.

Keywords: C60 fullerenes; single-walled carbon nanotubes; CNTs; SWCNTs; continuous approach; van der Waals forces; thermal fluctuations; centrifugal forces; spiral motion; gigahertz nano-oscillator; nanotechnology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTAMM.2009.029219

International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Multiscale Mechanics, 2009 Vol.1 No.2, pp.176 - 193

Published online: 10 Nov 2009 *

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