Guided motion of short carbon nanotube driven by non-uniform electric field.pdfVIP

Appl. Math. Mech. -Engl. Ed., 35(5), 535–540 (2014) Applied Mathematics DOI 10.1007/s10483-014-1810-x and Mechanics c Shanghai University and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014 (English Edition) Guided motion of short carbon nanotube driven by non-uniform electric field∗ Zhen XU ( )1,2,3 , Guo-hui HU ()1,2,3 , Zhi-liang WANG ()1,2,3 , Zhe-wei ZHOU ()1,2,3 (1. Shanghai Institute of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072, P. R. China; 2. Modern Mechanics Division, E-Institutes of Shanghai Universities, Shanghai 200072, P. R. China; 3. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mechanics in Energy and Environmental Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072, P. R. China) Abstract The molecular dynamics simulations are performed to show that in aque- ous environments, a short single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) guided by a long SWCNT, either inside or outside the longer tube, is capable of moving along the nanotube axis unidirectionally in an electric field perpendicular to the carbon nanotube (CNT) axis with the linear gradient. The design suggests a new way of molecule transportation or mass delivery. To reveal the mechanism behind this phenomenon, the free energy profiles of the system are calculated by the method of the potential of mean force (PMF). Key words guided motion, carbon nanotube (CNT), electric field with linear gradient, potential of mean force (PMF) Chinese Library C