Orientational melting of two-shell carbon nanoparticles: molecular dynamics study

Interlayer interaction and related properties of bilayer hexagonal boron nitride: ab initio study

Properties of hexagonal boron nitride bilayer related to interlayer interaction (width and formation energy of dislocations, shear mode frequency, etc.) are estimated by approximation of potential energy surface by first Fourier harmonics.

Diffusion and drift of graphene flake on graphite surface

Diffusion and drift of a graphene flake on a graphite surface are analyzed. A potential energy relief of the graphene flake is computed using ab initio and empirical calculations. Based on the analysis of this relief, different mechanisms of diffusion and drift of the graphene flake on the graphite surface are considered. A new mechanism of diffusion and drift of the flake is proposed. According to the proposed mechanism, rotational transition of the flake from commensurate to incommensurate state takes place with subsequent simultaneous rotation and translational motion until a commensurate state is reached again, and so on. Analytic expressions for the diffusion coefficient and mobility of the flake corresponding to different mechanisms are derived in wide ranges of temperatures and sizes of the flake. The molecular dynamics simulations and estimates based on ab initio and empirical calculations demonstrate that the proposed mechanism can be dominant under certain conditions. The influence of structural defects on the diffusion of the flake is examined on the basis of calculations of the potential energy relief and molecular dynamics simulations. The methods of control over the diffusion and drift of graphene components in nanoelectromechanical systems are discussed. The possibility to experimentally determine the barriers to relative motion of graphene layers based on the study of diffusion of a graphene flake is considered. The results obtained can also be applied to polycyclic aromatic molecules on graphene and should be qualitatively valid for a set of commensurate adsorbate-adsorbent systems.

Effect of Peierls transition in armchair carbon nanotube on dynamical behaviour of encapsulated fullerene

The changes of dynamical behaviour of a single fullerene molecule inside an armchair carbon nanotube caused by the structural Peierls transition in the nanotube are considered. The structures of the smallest C20 and Fe@C20 fullerenes are computed using the spin-polarized density functional theory. Significant changes of the barriers for motion along the nanotube axis and rotation of these fullerenes inside the (8,8) nanotube are found at the Peierls transition. It is shown that the coefficients of translational and rotational diffusions of these fullerenes inside the nanotube change by several orders of magnitude. The possibility of inverse orientational melting, i.e. with a decrease of temperature, for the systems under consideration is predicted.

Nanoparticle traffic on helical tracks: thermophoretic mass transport through carbon nanotubes

Using molecular dynamics simulations, we demonstrate and quantify thermophoretic motion of solid gold nanoparticles inside carbon nanotubes subject to wall temperature gradients ranging from 0.4 to 25 K/nm. For temperature gradients below 1 K/nm, we find that the particles move "on tracks" in a predictable fashion as they follow unique helical orbits depending on the geometry of the carbon nanotubes. These findings markedly advance our knowledge of mass transport mechanisms relevant to nanoscale applications.