Collision of a suddenly released bent carbon nanotube with a circular graphene sheet

Abstract

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were used to investigate the mechanical strain energy release of a bent single wall carbon nanotube (CNT) and its mechanical collision with a circular graphene sheet that is fixed at its edges. The MD simulations show that the CNT is able to store a vast amount of mechanical strain energy because of the formation of kinks on its wall at the regions of maximum curvature. The sudden release of the strain energy upon releasing the bent CNT can cause its tip to approach a speed of 7000 m/s. Even with such a high speed collision with a monolayer graphene sheet, the CNT and the monolayer graphene sheet remain completely intact and do not suffer any damage. The instantaneous average impact pressure between the CNT and the graphene sheet is calculated to be in the range of 1–10 GPa for different temperatures and aspect ratios of the CNT. These results indicate the promising application of a CNT and a graphene sheet as a nanoknife and a nanocutting board, respectively, for nanocleavage processes such as sequence-specific DNA cleaving processes.