Dynamics of the Formation of Carbon Nanotube Serpentines

L. D. Machado, S. B. Legoas, J. S. Soares, N. Shadmi, A. Jorio, E. Joselevich, and D. S. Galvão
Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 105502 – Published 8 March 2013
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Abstract

Recently, Geblinger et al. [Nat. Nanotechnol. 3, 195 (2008)] reported the experimental realization of carbon nanotube S-like shaped nanostructures, the so-called carbon nanotube serpentines. We report here results from multimillion fully atomistic molecular dynamics simulations of their formation. We consider one-μm-long carbon nanotubes placed on stepped substrates with and without a catalyst nanoparticle on the top free end of the tube. A force is applied to the upper part of the tube during a short period of time and turned off; then the system is set free to evolve in time. Our results show that these conditions are sufficient to form robust serpentines and validates the general features of the “falling spaghetti model” proposed to explain their formation.

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  • Received 5 December 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.105502

© 2013 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

L. D. Machado1, S. B. Legoas2, J. S. Soares3, N. Shadmi4, A. Jorio3, E. Joselevich4, and D. S. Galvão1

  • 1Instituto de Física “Gleb Wataghin”, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, C. P. 6165, 13083-970 Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil
  • 2Departamento de Física, CCT, Universidade Federal de Roraima, 69304-000 Boa Vista, Roraima, Brazil
  • 3Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, 30123-970 Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
  • 4Department of Materials and Interfaces, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel

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Vol. 110, Iss. 10 — 8 March 2013

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