Deformation of carbon nanotube oscillators encapsulating Cu nanowires

Abstract

Pure carbon nanotube (CNT) oscillators are compared to CNT oscillator encapsulating copper nanowire (M@CNT) by molecular dynamics simulations. The excess forces of the Cu@CNT oscillator are slightly higher than that of the CNT oscillator and the excess van der Waals forces induced by the inter-wall interactions are 17 times higher than the excess forces induced by the Cu nanowire-CNT interactions. Since the masses of copper atoms are higher than those of carbon atoms, the carbon atoms are easier accelerated than the copper atoms and the collisions between the inner nanotube and then the encapsulated copper nanowire make a repelling force to decrease the total excess force. Structural deformations of CNT induced by the encapsulated copper nanowire are more important factor than the mass of the copper nanowire for its oscillation frequency.