Rotational behavior of a nanoring protected by argon

J Shi and YH Li and AQ Wang and K Cai, COMPUTATIONAL MATERIALS SCIENCE, 154, 132-137 (2018).

DOI: 10.1016/j.commatsci.2018.07.045

Using argon to protect the rotary nanoring made from curved carbon nanotube, we discover that the gas can act as an on-off and/or a speed controller of the rotary nanoring. The mechanism is that the argon cluster formed at lower temperature provides friction on the nanoring, which may stop rotating due to the friction. Molecular dynamics simulation results demonstrate that the nanoring cannot rotate at 100 K, but rotates at 300 K, or it rotates faster at higher temperature. Periodic fluctuation of the rotational frequency of the ring happens when the argon cluster is formed periodically. Using the nanoring as an engine of a nanomachine, the speed of the machine can be adjusted by changing the ambient temperature. Hence, the argon on-off provides potential application in nanodevices.

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