Thermophoretic force on nanocylinders in the free molecule regime.

Abstract

We theoretically investigate the thermophoresis of nanocylinders in the free molecule regime, wherein the nonrigid-body effect is taken into account. The analytical formulas of the thermophoretic forces on cylinders suspended in both simple gases and binary gas mixtures are derived for the two limiting collision models, i.e., specular and diffuse scatterings, based on the gas kinetic theory. In the limit of the rigid-body collision, the expressions can be reduced to the theoretical results of Garcia-Ybarra and Rosner [AIChE J. 35, 139 (1989)10.1002/aic.690350115]. The thermophoretic velocities of the nanocylinders (including carbon nanotubes and long-chain n-alkanes) have been evaluated and it is found that the influence of the nonrigid-body effect on thermophoresis is significant for the case of small cylinder radius and low temperatures.