A black phosphorus nanoconveyor belt system

AP Hua and JH Zhao and N Wei, APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS, 115, 243103 (2019).

DOI: 10.1063/1.5133149

Nanocoveyor belt systems (NCBSs) are considered key components of micro-/nanoelectromechanical systems (M/NEMS). However, it is still a tremendous challenge to find suitable NCBSs and reveal their transmission mechanism at the nano-/microscale in some special applications. Here, we report black phosphorus (BP) NCBS using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, which consist of a drive nanowheel, a driven nanowheel, and a nanoconveyor belt. Our MD results show that the time to achieve a stable transmission ratio strongly depends on the ambient temperature, the chirality and size of the NCBS, and the velocity of the drive nanowheel. The aaa-type BP-NCBS have better transmission efficiency and stability than other types due to their greater friction and better structural stability. In particular, the friction force between the two nanowheels and the belt dominates the transmission mechanism of the NCBS, in which the logarithmic relationship between the friction force and the transmission velocity of the corresponding two BP sheets from MD simulations agrees well with that from available continuum modeling. This study provides physical insights into the transmission mechanism of different NCBSs and should be of great help for designing other more perfect NCBSs in M/NEMS.

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