Temperature difference-powered carbon nanotube bearings

Abstract

Molecular dynamics simulations are conducted to study the motion of carbon nanotube-based nanobearings powered by temperature difference. When a temperature difference exists between stator nanotubes, the rotor nanotubes acquire a higher temperature, which arises from the interaction between phonon currents and nanotubes. The thermal driving force increases with the increase in temperature difference between the stators, an increase that is nearly proportional to the temperature difference. Confined by the minimum energy track, the (5, 5)@(10, 10) nanotube bearings only translate along the axis direction but without successive rotation.

Key words： temperature difference-induced motion; carbon nanotubes; nanobearing; molecular dynamics simulation

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 50606018, 50976052) and the Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology (TNList) Cross-discipline Foundation.

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