Derailing of Helical Nanotubes Through Localized Energy Application

Abstract

Helical carbon nanotubes (HCNT) can find essential uses in micro- and nano-electromechanical applications, such as springs, magnetic field detectors, electromagnets, and actuators, as a result of their distinct electromagnetic and mechanical properties. The synthesis of such carbon nanosprings through a non-classical catalytic growth process is reported here. The process described here uses an array of nano-sized openings to control the diameter and coil pitch of the nanosprings. The nanosprings will exhibit a permanent deformation in the form of spring when exposed to a laser beam. This decoiling can be associated to an internal stress relief mechanism in which pentagon-heptagon defect pairs reverts back to hexagonal rings. Such induced deformation for carbon nanosprings is expected to have important applications in the sensor or biomedical fields.