Hits:

Indexed by:期刊论文

Date of Publication:2014-03-26

Journal:JOURNAL OF PHYSICS D-APPLIED PHYSICS

Included Journals:SCIE、EI、Scopus

Volume:47

Issue:12

ISSN No.:0022-3727

Key Words:water-filled CNTs; tunable; mechanical property; buckling behaviour

Abstract:The spring- induced compression of water-filled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) under an electric field is investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. Due to the incompressibility and polarity of water, the mechanical property of CNTs can be tuned through filling with water molecules and applying an electric field. To explore the variation of the mechanical property of water-filled CNTs, the effects of the CNT length, the filling density and the electric field intensity are examined. The simulation results indicate that the water filling and electric field can result in a slight change in the elastic property (the elastic modulus and Poisson's ratio) of water-filled CNTs. However, the yield stress and average post-buckling stress exhibit a significant response to the water density and electric field intensity. As compared to hollow CNTs, the increment in yield stress of the water-filled CNTs under an electric field of 2.0V angstrom(-1) is up to 35.29%, which is even higher than that resulting from metal filling. The findings from this study provide a valuable theoretical basis for designing and fabricating the controlling units at the nanoscale.