https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2011-10952-1
Tubular fullerenes inside carbon nanotubes: optimal molecular orientation versus tube radius
1
Department of Physics, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerpen, Belgium
2
Institute of Solid State Chemistry, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Pervomayskaya 91, 620990 Ekaterinburg, Russia
Corresponding author: a bart.verberck@ua.ac.be
Received:
5
December
2010
Revised:
2
February
2011
Published online:
16
March
2011
We present an investigation of the orientations and positions of tubular fullerene molecules (C90, ..., C200) encapsulated in single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT), a series of so-called fullerene nanopeapods. We find that increasing the tube radius leads to the following succession of energetically stable regimes: (1) lying molecules positioned on the tube's long axis; (2) tilted molecules on the tube's long axis; and (3) lying molecules shifted away from the tube's long axis. As opposed to C70 and C80 molecules encapsulated in a SWCNT, standing orientations do not develop. Our results are relevant for the possible application of molecular-orientation-dependent electronic properties of fullerene nanopeapods, and also for the interpretation of future experiments on double-walled carbon nanotube formation by annealing fullerene peapod systems.
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2011