Molecular dynamics modelling of an electrical-driven linear nanopump

Abstract

The dynamics of an electrical-driven linear nanopump, consisting of a carbon nanotube, a C60 þ molecule and a graphene sheet, has been simulated via the application of the molecular dynamics method. In this nanopump, the nanotube and the graphene sheet are used as the sleeve of the pump and the boundary between the two sides of the nanopump, respectively. By exposing the nanopump to an external alternative electric field, the C60 þ molecule will be oscillating linearly in the nanotube. We found that the linear oscillating motion of the C60 þ molecule causes the gas atoms to flow through the nanotube, and a density gradient is generated between the two sides of the nanopump. Also, it was observed that the frequency of the external alternative electric field affected the pump performance in the generation of the density gradient amount. The maximum performance occurred at a specific frequency of the electric field. This specific frequency can be computed by an analytical formula for given materials and temperatures. Moreover, the results indicate that the length of the nanotube can affect the gas pumping.

Water desalination by a designed nanofilter of graphene-charged carbon nanotube: A molecular dynamics study

“…For this purpose, carbon nanostructures, such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene sheets are usually used. These structures have been used to design nanoscale devices, such as nanomotors and nanopumps [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. For example, Gong et al [9] computationally designed the nanopump, composed of a CNT, two graphene sheets and three positive charges, by mimicking the biological channels in a cellular membrane.…”

Peristaltic pumps work in nano scales

“…This is in principal due to difficulty of manufacturing of nano scale structures and significant changes in fluids behavior because of changing the size of the system in several orders of magnitude. Nevertheless, during last years some nanopumps have been designed and developed [5,6,[15][16][17][18][19]. In 2003, Berg etal.…”