Deformation of carbon nanotubes by surface van der Waals forces
- 15 November 1998
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review B
- Vol. 58 (20), 13870-13873
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.58.13870
Abstract
The strength and effect of surface van der Waals forces on the shape of multiwalled and single-walled carbon nanotubes is investigated using atomic-force microscopy, continuum mechanics, and molecular-mechanics simulations. Our calculations show that depending on the tube diameter and number of shells, the van der Waals interaction between nanotubes and a substrate results in high binding energies, which has also been determined experimentally. Nanotubes on a substrate may consequently experience radial and axial deformations, which significantly modify the idealized geometry of free nanotubes. These findings have implications for electronic transport and the tribological properties of adsorbed nanotubes.Keywords
This publication has 24 references indexed in Scilit:
- Covalently functionalized nanotubes as nanometre- sized probes in chemistry and biologyNature, 1998
- Bending and buckling of carbon nanotubes under large strainNature, 1997
- Nanobeam Mechanics: Elasticity, Strength, and Toughness of Nanorods and NanotubesScience, 1997
- Single-Electron Transport in Ropes of Carbon NanotubesScience, 1997
- Nanotubes as nanoprobes in scanning probe microscopyNature, 1996
- Crystalline Ropes of Metallic Carbon NanotubesScience, 1996
- Electrical conductivity of individual carbon nanotubesNature, 1996
- Exceptionally high Young's modulus observed for individual carbon nanotubesNature, 1996
- Electrical resistance of a carbon nanotube bundleJournal of Materials Research, 1994
- Electronic structure of chiral graphene tubulesApplied Physics Letters, 1992