Mechanics of Nanoscaled Oscillators

Abstract

Based on the results of Zheng et al. (2002), the shorter the inner core nanotube, the higher is the frequency. As a result, instead of using multi-walled carbon nanotubes, Liu et al. (2005) investigated the high frequencies generated by using a C60 fullerene that is oscillating inside a single-walled carbon nanotube. Furthermore, in contrast to the multi-walled carbon nanotube oscillator, the C60-nanotube oscillator tends not to suffer from a rocking motion, as a consequence of the reduced frictional effect. While Qian et al. (2001) and Liu et al. (2005) use molecular dynamics simulations to study this problem, this chapter employs elementary mechanical principles to provide models for the C60-single-walled carbon nanotube, doublewalled carbon nanotubes, and single-walled carbon nanotube- nano-bundle oscillators. The oscillatory behavior of these systems is investigated by utilizing the continuum approximation arising from the assumption that the discrete atoms can be smeared across each surface. The chapter provides a synopsis of the work of the authors appearing in Baowan and Hill (2007), Baowan et al. (2008), Cox et al. (2007a-c, 2008), Hilder and Hill (2007), and Thamwattana and Hill (2008).