Dynamic behavior of a rotary nanomotor in argon environments

• Main Authors: Kun Cai, Jiao Shi, Jingzhou Yu, Qing H. Qin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Publishing Group 2018-02-01
• Series: Scientific Reports
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-21694-2

Abstract When argon is used as a protecting gas in the fabrication or working environment of a nanodevice, absorption of some argon atoms onto the surface of the device lead to different responses. In this work, the rotation of the rotor in a carbon nanotube (CNT)-based rotary nanomotor in argon environment is investigated. In the rotary nanomotor, two outer CNTs act as the stator and are used to constrain the inner CNT (i.e., the rotor). The rotor is driven to rotate by the stator due to their collision during thermal vibration of their atoms. A stable rotational frequency (SRF) of the rotor occurs when the rotor reaches a dynamic equilibrium state. The value of the SRF decreases exponentially with an increase in the initial argon density. At dynamic equilibrium date, some of the argon atoms rotate synchronously with the rotor when they are absorbed onto either internal or external surface of the rotor. The interaction between the rest of the argon atoms and the rotor is stronger at higher densities of argon, resulting in lower values of the SRF. These principles provide insight for future experimentation and fabrication of such rotary nanomotor.