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Simulation studies of a “nanogun” based on carbon nanotubes

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  • Published: 31 July 2008
  • volume 1, pages 176–183 (2008)
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Simulation studies of a “nanogun” based on carbon nanotubes
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  • Yitao Dai1,
  • Chun Tang1 &
  • Wanlin Guo1 
  • 711 Accesses

  • 19 Citations

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Abstract

Quantum mechanical molecular dynamics simulations show that electrically neutral carbon nanotubes or fullerene balls housed in an outer carbon nanotube can be driven into motion by charging the outer tube uniformly. Positively and negatively charged outer tube are found to have quite different actions on the initially neutral nanotubes or fullerene balls. A positively charged tube can drive out the molecule inside it out at speeds over 1 km/s, just like a “nanogun”, while a negatively charged tube can drive the molecule into oscillation inside it and can absorb inwards a neutral molecule in the vicinity of its open end, like a “nanomanipulator”. The results demonstrate that changing the charge environment in specific ways may open the door to conceptually new nano/molecular electromechanical devices.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Nano Science, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, 210016, China

    Yitao Dai, Chun Tang & Wanlin Guo

Authors
  1. Yitao Dai
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  2. Chun Tang
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  3. Wanlin Guo
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Correspondence to Wanlin Guo.

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Open Access This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0 ), which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.

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Dai, Y., Tang, C. & Guo, W. Simulation studies of a “nanogun” based on carbon nanotubes. Nano Res. 1, 176–183 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-008-8014-7

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  • Received: 03 May 2008

  • Revised: 30 June 2008

  • Accepted: 30 June 2008

  • Published: 31 July 2008

  • Issue Date: August 2008

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-008-8014-7

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Keywords

  • Energy conversion
  • carbon nanotube
  • neutral molecule
  • driving mechanisms
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