Permeability of membranes stacked tightly closed carbon nanotubes

Abstract

Nanotubes, like fullerenes, can be stacked in potential wells of adjacent tubes, forming a new material with triangular tunnels. This method of cluster formation from nanotubes is called self-laying mode. In this work two methods for calculating permeability of such material by the molecules and atoms of a gas mixture are proposed. In the framework of the first approach, the calculations made it possible to determine the effective radii of the tubes with respect to helium and methane. This method relies on the determination of the sizes of the areas of free passage of molecules, the second on a set of complete statistics on single launches that realize the passage of molecules. The studied ideal carbon structure showed high selectivity with respect to the separation of the methane-helium mixture and was practically impermeable to methane.