The electroemission of endo-fullerenes from a nanotube

Abstract

We investigated the electroemission of endo-fullerenes from a carbon nanotube usingclassical molecular dynamics simulations based on the Tersoff–Brenner potential andLennard-Jones potentials. The height of the potential energy barrier was closely related tothe threshold electrostatic field intensity. The length of the empty nanospace inside thecarbon peapod was important for the endo-fullerene to obtain the kinetic energy above thepotential energy barrier. As the number of the endo-fullerenes increased, since thecorrelated collisions between the endo-fullerenes increased, the kinetic energytransfers between the endo-fullerenes were very important for the endo-fullereneelectroemission from the carbon peapod. As the empty nanospace in the peapodincreased, the electroemission of the endo-fullerenes from the peapod could be easilyachieved in the low electrostatic field intensity. Both the initial configurations of theendo-fullerenes in the carbon peapod and the external electrostatic field intensityvery closely affected the endo-fullerene electroemission from the carbon peapod.