Extracting the inner wall from nested double-walled carbon nanotube by platinum nanowire:Molecular dynamics simulations

The sliding behavior of interwalls between double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs) is studied by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The results show that a platinum (Pt) nanowire (NW) is able to push out a single wall from the DWCNT. The pushout process is strongly dependent on the match level of the NW radius and the inner wall CNT radius. The match radius of the Pt NW and the inner CNT wall will form perfect single-walled CNT (SWCNT) and Pt/CNT core/shell nanostructure. In addition, the bonding interactions between the Pt NW and the CNT are also studied. The shear stress between the Pt NW and CNT is in megapascal magnitude. The chirality has little effect on the interfacial bonding and the shear stress between the Pt NW and the CNT. This study will shed light on the understanding of the lubrication mechanism of the multi-walled CNT and the metal NWs in realistic situations.