单壁碳纳米管在石墨基底上运动的分子动力学模拟

采用分子动力学模拟方法研究单壁碳纳米管在石墨基底上的运动.首先碳纳米管在基底弛豫至平衡状态，然后对其施加一固定外力，撤去外力后，碳纳米管在基底上逐渐减速至停止.为了研究管径、手性角对运动方式的影响，本文选择了C(10,10)，C(10,9)，C(10,8)，C(10,5)，C(10,0)，C(8,8)六种单壁碳纳米管进行模拟.结果表明，碳纳米管在石墨基底上的运动方式由手性角决定，与管径无关.手性角等于30°时，碳纳米管与石墨基底之间为公度结构，碳纳米管的运动出现周期性的滑动和翻滚现象；手性角大于28.3°小于30°时，碳纳米管一边向前滑动一边滚动；手性角小于26.3°时，碳纳米管在基底上滑动.碳纳米管的手性角决定了它与石墨基底接触界面的微观构型，从而决定了碳纳米管的运动方式. 关键词： 分子动力学模拟 碳纳米管 动能 结构公度性     

Numerical distortion and effects of thermostat in molecular dynamics simulations of single-walled carbon nanotubes

In this paper, single-walled carbon nanotubes （SWCNTs） are studied through molecular dynamics （MD） simulation. The simulations are performed at temperatures of 1 and 300K separately, with atomic interactions characterized by the second Reactive Empirical Bond Order （REBO） potential, and temperature controlled by a certain thermostat, i.e. by separately using the velocity scaling, the Berendsen scheme, the Nose-Hoover scheme, and the generalized Langevin scheme. Results for a （5,5） SWCNT with a length of 24.5 nm show apparent distortions in nanotube configuration, which can further enter into periodic vibrations, except in simulations using the generalized Langevin thermostat, which is ascribed to periodic boundary conditions used in simulation. The periodic boundary conditions may implicitly be applied in the form of an inconsistent constraint along the axis of the nanotube. The combination of the inconsistent constraint with the cumulative errors in calculation causes the distortions of nanotubes. When the generalized Langevin thermostat is applied, inconsistently distributed errors are dispersed by the random forces, and so the distortions and vibrations disappear. This speculation is confirmed by simulation in the case without periodic boundary conditions, where no apparent distortion and vibration occur. It is also revealed that numerically induced distortions and vibrations occur only in simulation of nanotubes with a small diameter and a large length-to-diameter ratio. When MD simulation is applied to a system with a particular geometry, attention should be paid to avoiding the numerical distortion and the result infidelity.