Ring-shaped nanomotors of heterojuncted carbon boron-nitride nanotubes

Abstract

Constructing a nanomotor, especially one with simple configurations and good performance, plays a crucial role in the field of nanotechnology. Here, we present a prototype design of a ring-shaped nanomotor with carbon boron-nitride heterojunction nanotubes as the stator. Molecular dynamics simulations show that, when thermal gradients are applied on the stator, an inner carbon nanotube, or contented water, can be driven to move inside the stator with well-defined directions and speeds. The driving mechanism is attributed to the asymmetric thermophoretic force due to asymmetric configurations of the stator, which is further confirmed by an analytical model. This work presents a primary study on ring-shaped nanomotors and may have a great potential in nanomachines including nanogenerators.