Radial stability and configuration transition of carbon nanotubes regulated by enclosed cores

Abstract

The radial stability and configuration transition of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with enclosed cores have been studied in this paper by using atomistic simulations. We found that an abnormal transition of CNTs from open to collapse can be regulated by enclosing deformable and rigid cores. The energy barrier for the configuration transition can be reduced by nearly one order of magnitude due to the presence of these cores, i.e., from ∼0.3 eV/Å to ∼0.03 eV/Å. These findings may provide guidance for the design of controllable CNT-based carrier systems for the delivery of drug, gene and fluid.

Superior carbon nanotube stability by molecular filling:a single-chirality study at extreme pressures

“…5(b) that Γ is larger for large diameter tubes. We note that there is a strong scattering of the collapse pressure in filled tubes, which may not only be explained by the nature of the filler but also by the filling rate which has been shown to have a strong influence on the collapse pressure value [11,66] or the filling homogeneity [62]. Γ appears to be a complex function including dependencies on the tube diameter, the nature of the filler or the filling rate.…”