Structural transformations in carbon nanoparticles induced by electron irradiation

This paper reviews the electron-irradiation effects in graphitic nanoparticles. Irradiation-induced atomic displacements cause structural defects in graphite lattice forming the basis of carbon nanoparticles such as nanotubes or carbon onions. Defects of the type of non-six-membered rings induce topological alterations of graphene layers. The generation of curvature under electron irradiation leads to the formation of new structures, such as spherical carbon onions or coalescent nanotubes. At high temperatures, the self-compression of carbon onions can promote the nucleation of diamond cores or phase transformations of foreign materials that are encapsulated by onionlike graphitic shells. Under the nonequilibrium conditions of intense irradiation, the phase equilibrium between graphite and diamond can be reversed. It is shown that graphite can be transformed into diamond even if no external pressure is applied. All electron-irradiation and electron-microscopic studies described here were carried out using in situ transmission electron microscopy.     

一种制备巴基葱的新方法纳米碳化硅高温真空热分解法

实验发现，通过真空热处理碳化硅纳米粉末可以获得巴基葱.透射电子显微镜和高分辨电子显微镜观测表明，当碳化硅完全分解时，形成空心准球状颗粒和葱状石墨颗粒；当碳化硅分解不完全时，形成碳包裹碳化硅结构，该包裹层由准同心石墨壳层构成.由实验结果知，认为平面结构是石墨的最稳定形式的传统观点是值得讨论的. 关键词：     

Adsorption and manipulation of carbon onions on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite studied with atomic force microscopy

Carbon onions produced by DC arc discharge method were deposited on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surface and their adsorption and manipulation was studied using an atomic force microscopy (AFM). Well-dispersed adsorption of carbon onions on HOPG surface was obtained and aggregations of onions were not observed. The van der Waals interaction between the onion and HOPG surface and that between two onions, were calculated and discussed using Hamaker's theory. The manipulation of adsorbed onions on HOPG surface was realized using the AFM in both the raster mode and the vector mode. The controllability and precision of two manipulation modes were compared and the vector mode manipulation was found superior, and is a useful technique for the construction of nano-scale devices based on carbon onions.     

Dynamical simulation of gravothermal catastrophe

We investigate the dynamical evolution of gravothermal catastrophe in a model of a spherical cluster where, besides the energy and angular momentum, an additional integral of motion is also taken into account. Using dynamical simulation, we study a system of concentric, rotating, spherical shells employing a precise, event-driven, algorithm that permits the controlled exchange of internal angular momentum. Initially the system starts to relax to a locally stable state that is in good agreement with mean field predictions. This is followed by core collapse with the development of a core-halo structure and gravothermal oscillation.     

Rolling as a “continuing collision”

We show that two basic mechanical processes, the collision of particles and rolling motion of a sphere on a plane, are intimately related. According to our recent findings, the restitution coefficient for colliding spherical particles , which characterizes the energy loss upon collision, is directly related to the rolling friction coefficient for a viscous sphere on a hard plane. We quantify both coefficients in terms of material constants which allows to determine either of them provided the other is known. This relation between the coefficients may give rise to a novel experimental technique to determine alternatively the coefficient of restitution or the coefficient of rolling friction. Received 5 May 1999     

Oscillation of nested fullerenes (carbon onions) in carbon nanotubes

Nested spherical fullerenes, which are sometimes referred to as carbon onions, of I _h symmetries which have N(n) carbon atoms in the nth shell given by N(n) = 60n ² are studied in this paper. The continuum approximation together with the Lennard-Jones potential is utilized to determine the resultant potential energy. High frequency nanoscale oscillators or gigahertz oscillators created from fullerenes and both single- and multi-walled carbon nanotubes have attracted much attention for a number of proposed applications, such as ultra-fast optical filters and ultra-sensitive nano-antennae that might impact on the development of computing and signalling nano-devices. Further, it is only at the nanoscale where such gigahertz frequencies can be achieved. This paper focuses on the interaction of nested fullerenes and the mechanics of such molecules oscillating in carbon nanotubes. Here we investigate such issues as the acceptance condition for nested fullerenes into carbon nanotubes, the total force and energy of the nested fullerenes, and the velocity and gigahertz frequency of the oscillating molecule. In particular, optimum nanotube radii are determined for which nested fullerenes oscillate at maximum velocity and frequency, which will be of considerable benefit for the design of future nano-oscillating devices.     

Casimir Effect for Concentric Spheres in de Sitter Spacetime with Signature Change

We revisit the Casimir effect for two concentric spherical shells in de Sitter background with a new geometric configuration, namely Euclidean signature between and Lorentzian signature outside the spheres with different cosmological constants, for a massless scalar field satisfying Dirichlet boundary conditions on the spheres. It is shown that an extra constant pressure emerges due to this signature changing configuration. Some interesting aspects of this extra term are then discussed.     

Reduced Hamiltonian for intersecting shells

The gauge usually adopted for extracting the reduced Hamiltonian of a thin spherical shell of matter in general relativity, becomes singular when dealing with two or more intersecting shells. We introduce here a more general class of gauges which is apt for dealing with intersecting shells. As an application we give the Hamiltonian treatment of two intersecting shells, both massive and massless. Such a formulation is applied to the computation of the semiclassical tunneling probability of two shells. The probability for the emission of two shells is simply the product of the separate probabilities thus showing no correlation in the emission probabilities in this model.     

Ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy of carbon onions

The optical properties of spherical and polyhedral carbon onions were studied in relation to the strong hump centered at 217.5 nm (4.6 μm⁻¹) in the interstellar-dust extinction curve. The ultraviolet-visible absorption spectra of onions prepared by thermal annealing of diamond nanoparticles were measured. Theoretical calculations for the spherical and polyhedral carbon onions were also carried out to explain the experimental spectra. From Fizika Tverdogo Tela, Vol. 44, No. 3, 2002, pp. 433–436. Original English Text Copyright ? 2002 by Tomita, Hayashi, Tsukuda, Fujii. This article was submitted by the authors in English.     

Radial breathing mode frequencies of carbon nanotubes for determination of their diameters

In this paper, exact formulas are obtained for the radial breathing mode (RBM) frequencies of triple-walled carbon nanotubes (TWCNTs) using symbolic package in MAPLE software. For this purpose, TWCNT is considered as triple concentric elastic thin cylindrical shells, which are coupled through van der Waals (vdW) forces between two adjacent tubes. Lennard–Jones potential is used to calculate the vdW forces between adjacent tubes. Then, explicit formulas for RBM frequencies of single-walled (SW), and double-walled (DW) CNTs have been deduced from TWCNT formulas that show an excellent agreement with the available experimental results and the other theoretical model results. The advantage of this analytical approach is that the elastic shell model considers all degrees of freedom in the vibrational analysis of CNTs. To demonstrate the accuracy of this work, the RBM frequencies of different multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are compared with the available experimental or atomistic results with relative errors of less than 1.5%. To illustrate the application of this approach, the diameters of DWCNTs are obtained from their RBM frequencies which show an excellent agreement with the available experimental results. Also, this approach can be used to determine the diameters of the TWCNTs and MWCNTs. The influence of changing the geometrical and mechanical parameters of a TWCNT on its RBM frequencies has been investigated, too.     

Optical Tamm states at the interface between a photonic crystal and a nanocomposite with resonance dispersion

Optical Tamm states localized at the edges of a photonic crystal bounded from one or both sides by a nanocomposite have been studied. The nanocomposite consists of metallic nanoinclusions, which have a spherical or orientationally ordered spheroidal shape and are dispersed in a transparent matrix, and is characterized by the resonant effective permittivity. The transmission, reflection, and absorption spectra have been calculated for waves with longitudinal and transverse polarizations in such structures at the normal incidence of light. The spectral manifestation of Tamm states that is due to the existence of negative values of the real part of the effective permittivity has been analyzed for the visible spectral range. It has been established that the characteristics of Tamm states localized at the edge of the photonic crystal depend strongly both on the concentration of nanoballs in the nanocomposite film and on its thickness. Modes formed by two coupled Tamm plasmon polaritons localized at the edges of the photonic crystal adjacent to two nanocomposite layers have been examined. It has been shown that, in the case of the anisotropic nanocomposite layer adjacent to the photonic crystal, each of two orthogonal polarizations of the incident wave corresponds to a specific frequency of the Tamm state localized at the edge; owing to this property, the transmission spectra of such a structure are polarization sensitive.     

Phase diagram of uniaxial antiferromagnetic particles: Field perpendicular to the easy axis

We consider a spherical uniaxial antiferromagnetic particle in the presence of an external magnetic field perpendicular to its easy axis. The model is described by a classical Heisenberg Hamiltonian including a single-ion uniaxial anisotropy, where the magnetic moments of the particle are represented by continuous spin vectors. We employ mean-field calculations and Monte Carlo simulations to determine the phase diagram of the system. The phase diagram in the plane field versus temperature is obtained for particles with radii ranging from three up to twelve spacing lattice units. We have seen that a particle with more than nine shells behaves as a true thermodynamic system. We find the explicit dependence of the zero temperature critical field and the Néel temperature on the diameter of the particle. At low temperatures, we have also shown that, for particles with three or more shells, the critical field follows a T² law, which is in agreement with the predictions of the spin-wave theory, when the field is perpendicular to the easy axis.     

On the mechanics of C60 fullerene inside open carbon nanocones: A continuum study

Presented herein is a comprehensive study on the mechanics of concentric and eccentric C₆₀ fullerenes inside open carbon nanocones (CNCs) on the basis of the continuum approximation along with the 6–12 Lennard-Jones (LJ) potential function. For concentric configuration, new analytical expressions are derived to evaluate van der Waals (vdW) potential energy and interaction force between the two interacting molecules. Also, semi-analytical expressions in terms of double integrals are extracted to determine the potential energy of an offset C₆₀ fullerene inside open CNCs. The proposed expressions are demonstrated to be dependent on whether the fullerene enters the open nanocone through the small end or the wide end. The effects of geometrical parameters such as small end radius, wide end radius and vertex angle of open nanocone on the distributions of vdW potential energy and interaction force are fully investigated. It is found that the fullerene molecule undergoes an asymmetrical motion inside CNCs. Moreover, for concentric and eccentric configurations, preferred position of system, for which potential energy reaches its minimum value, is obtained for different sizes of nanocone.     

On the van der Waals interaction of carbon nanocones

Based on the continuum Lennard-Jones model, the van der Waals interaction of two concentric and eccentric carbon nanocones with different or identical sizes are investigated in this paper. Also, on the basis of classical mathematical modeling techniques, a new semi-analytical solution is given to evaluate the van der Waals potential energy and interaction force distributions of two concentric carbon nanocones. Finally, a universal potential energy is presented for the carbon nanocones.     

Cooling rate effects on structure and thermodynamics of amorphous nanoparticles

Cooling rate effects on structure and thermodynamics of amorphous nanoparticles were studied in a spherical model using Molecular Dynamics (MD) method. The good equilibrium melts are cooling down by three different cooling rates in order to observe the cooling rate effects. We find that cooling rate effects on thermodynamic quantities such as potential energy and surface energy are more pronounced than those for static quantities. Microstructure of amorphous nanoparticles is analyzed via radial distribution function (RDF) and coordination number distributions. Relatively weak cooling rate effects on such quantities are found. Microstructure of surface and core of amorphous nanoparticles are analyzed.     

Capillary oscillations of a charged viscous spheroidal droplet

Dispersion relations are derived for the capillary oscillations of a charged viscous spheroidal droplet by scalarization within perturbation theory using an expansion in two small parameters, viz., the magnitude of the perturbation of the spheroidal surface as a result of thermal fluctuations and the magnitude of the deviation of the equilibrium spheroidal droplet shape from a spherical shape. It is shown analytically that the motion spectrum of the liquid consists of two components that interact in the linear theory: toroidal vortex motion and poloidal potential motions. A numerical analysis reveals that the instability growth rates of the higher modes of a highly charged droplet increase with enhancement of the degree of spheroidal strain and decrease rapidly as the viscosity of the liquid increases. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 68, 20–27 (April 1998)     

Domain morphology in ultrathin ferromagnetic films with perpendicular magnetization

We determine the minimal domain structure for the equilibrium thickness of stripes as well as for the minimal energy of the domain configuration in ultrathin films of ferromagnetically coupled spins, where the easy direction of magnetization is perpendicular to the film. It is found that the equilibrium thickness of stripes and walls depend on the exchange energy. The normalized anisotropy, f, depends on interplay between the magnetic and anisotropy energies and is almost independent of the exchange energy inside the wall. The results are compared with the experimental data for thin Ag/Fe/Ag (0 0 1) films and a good coincidence is obtained between both results.     

Bifurcations of the normal modes of the Ne?Br2 complex

We study the classical dynamics of the rare gas-dihalogen Ne?Br₂ complex in its ground electronic state. By considering the dihalogen bond frozen at its equilibrium distance, the system has two degrees of freedom and its potential energy surface presents linear and T-shape isomers. We find the nonlinear normal modes of both isomers that determine the phase space structure of the system. By means of surfaces of section and applying the numerical continuation of families of periodic orbits, we detect and identify the different bifurcations suffered by the normal modes as a function of the system energy. Finally, using the Orthogonal Fast Lyapunov Indicator (OFLI), we study the evolution of the fraction of the phase space volume occupied by regular motions.     

具有各向异性的梯度颗粒复合材料的有效介电响应

本文研究了具有梯度壳层椭球颗粒复合体系的有效介电响应，在稀释条件下用准静态近似方法, 推导了颗粒壳层具有任意介电梯度形式的椭球颗粒复合体系的有效介电常数和部分共振条件的一般表达式。并以壳层的介电常数为主轴的幂函数形式为例，得出了通过调节壳层的介电梯度形式、颗粒的结构和形状,可以提高该体系的有效介电常数和实现部分共振的结论。     

Luminescence induced in diamond by He+ ion implantation into SiC/C composites with an inverse opal structure

The photoluminescence induced in diamond by helium ion implantation into SiC/C nanocomposite samples and their structure revealed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy have been investigated. It has been found that, apart from crystallites of silicon carbide, graphite, and amorphous carbon, in the structure of the composites there are spherical carbon particles containing concentric graphite-like shells (onion-like particles). It has been established that onion-like particles are formed during high-temperature treatment of SiC/C nanocomposites in the course of their preparation. It has been shown that, after the implantation with the subsequent thermal treatment, nanocomposite samples exhibit a luminescence characteristic of N-V centers in diamonds. The assumption has been made that the diamond crystallites are formed at the center of onion-like particles during high-temperature treatment of the composite.