On the encapsulation of azafullerenes inside the single-walled carbon nanotubes: Density-functional theory based treatments

We theoretically studied the encapsulation of azafullerene (C₅₉N) inside the single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) from the first-principles. Adsorption energy is calculated, and the azafullerene affinities for the typical semiconducting and metallic nanotubes are investigated and compared with those of pure C₆₀ fullerene. It has been found that the azafullerene as well as the fullerene affinity for the semiconducting nanotubes is stronger than that for the metallic ones, and the energy values and binding distances are typical for the physisorption. Our first-principles results indicate that the interaction between SWCNTs and azafullerenes is comparable with the nanotubes-C₆₀ system. The charge analysis shows, however, that the charges have been transferred from the cage to the tube in the azafullerene peapods, while in the fullerene peapods the charges were found to be transferred from the tube to the fullerene nanocage. Furthermore, it was found that the interaction between the considered fullerenes and host nanotubes strongly depends on the tube diameters.