Nanotube-based nanoelectromechanical systems

Abstract

with chiral potential energy surface of interwall interaction, which can be called bolt‐nut pair. We determine conditions for different modes of operation and discuss both their feasibility in various NEMS devices and methods of application of driving forces for various types of motion. We develop a model for computing the interwall interaction energy in nanotubes with atomic structural defects. Our computations of the interwall interaction energy show that periodic distribution of atomic defects in a double-walled nanotube can create conditions required for synthesizing nanotubes that can be used as bolt‐nut pairs with desired thread characteristics. We discuss the feasibility of fabrication of nanotubes of this type by self-organization. We propose novel schemes of carbon-nanotube‐based NEMS devices containing such a bolt‐nut pair: a nanodrill that can be used to modify surfaces (see also [22‐24]) and a nanomotor in which the force directed along the nanotube axis is converted into relative rotation of its walls. We also note that the double-walled nanotubes analyzed theoretically in this paper can be synthesized by the standard arc discharge method [28], by the hydrogen arc discharge method [29], by catalytic decomposition of hydrocarbons [30, 31], and by heating [32] or electron beam lithography [33] applied to single-walled nanotubes containing chains of fullerene molecules.