Growing
carbon nanotube or controlling its growth is a big challenge as the
mechanisms of structural deformation are not fully understood. It is
observed experimentally that nanotubes undergo structural deformation
during growth, and it has been explained as a thermally activated
process. Using quantum mechanical calculations and a simple force based
analysis it is shown that (depending on growth temperature and number
of dangling bonds present at the nanotube edge) both inherent
structural instability and thermodynamics are responsible for the
observed deformation. Moreover, it is explained how structural instability
leads to differential chemical activities for the edges of carbon nanotubes. We study how such pico-level atomic interactions, evolving from the creation of dangling bonds, couples with thermal excitation. We can use such energetic interaction to module electronic states and engineer nanoscale energy transport in emerging materials with applications in bio-science and nanotechnology. Further
reading Structural Instability of Single Wall
Carbon Nanotube Edges from
First-principles M. Zubaer Hossain, Applied Physics Letters, 95, 153104, 2009 |