Abstract
Carbon nanoscrolls (CNSs) belong to the same class of carbon-based nanomaterials as carbon nanotubes but are much less studied in spite of their great potential for applications in nanotechnology and bioengineering. Fundamental description, understanding and regulation of such materials will ultimately lead to a new generation of integrated systems that utilize their unique properties. In this review, we describe some of the recent advances in theoretical investigation on structural and dynamical behavior of CNS, as well as relevant simulation techniques. Theoretically it has been found that a stable equilibrium core size of CNS can be uniquely determined or tuned from the basal graphene length, the interlayer spacing, the interaction energy between layers of CNS and the bending stiffness of graphene. Perturbations of the surface energy, which can be controlled by an electric field, will cause a CNS to undergo breathing oscillatory motion as well as translational rolling motion on a substrate. The tunable core size of CNS also enables it to serve potentially as transmembrane water channels in biological systems.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Viculis, L.M., Mack, J.J. and Kaner, R.B., A chemical route to carbon nanoscrolls. Science, 2003, 299: 1361.
Xie, X., Ju, L., Feng, X.F., Sun, Y.H., Zhou, R.F., Liu, K., Fan, S.S., Li, Q.L. and Jiang, K.L., Controlled fabrication of high-quality carbon nanoscrolls from monolayer graphene. Nano Letters, 2009, 9: 2565–2570.
Savoskin, M.V., Mochalin, V.N., Yaroshenko, A.P., Lazareva, N.I., Konstantinova, T.E., Barsukov, I.V. and Prokofiev, L.G., Carbon nanoscrolls produced from acceptor-type graphite intercalation compounds. Carbon, 2007, 45: 2797–2800.
Roy, D., Angeles-Tactay, E., Brown, R.J.C., Spencer, S.J., Fry, T., Dunton, T.A., Young, T. and Milton, M.J.T., Synthesis and raman spectroscopic characterisation of carbon nanoscrolls. Chemical Physics Letters, 2008, 465: 254–257.
Chuvilin, A.L., Kuznetsov, V.L. and Obraztsov, A.N., Chiral carbon nanoscrolls with a polygonal cross-section. Carbon, 2009, 47: 3099–3105.
Shioyama, H. and Akita, T., A new route to carbon nanotubes. Carbon, 2003, 41: 179–181.
Chen, Y., Lu, J. and Gao, Z.X., Structural and electronic study of nanoscrolls rolled up by a single graphene sheet. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2007, 111: 1625–1630.
Braga, S.F., Coluci, V.R., Legoas, S.B., Giro, R., Galvao, D.S. and Baughman, R.H., Structure and dynamics of carbon nanoscrolls. Nano Letters, 2004, 4: 881–884.
Braga, S.F., Coluci, V.R., Baughman, R.H. and Galvao, D.S., Hydrogen storage in carbon nanoscrolls: an atomistic molecular dynamics study. Chemical Physics Letters, 2007, 441: 78–82.
Coluci, V.R., Braga, S.F., Baughman, R.H. and Galvao, D.S., Prediction of the hydrogen storage capacity of carbon nanoscrolls. Physical Review B, 2007, 75: 125404.
Mpourmpakis, G., Tylianakis, E. and Froudakis, G.E., Carbon nanoscrolls: a promising material for hydrogen storage. Nano Letters 2007, 7: 1893–1897.
Pan, H., Feng, Y. and Lin, J., An initio study of electronic and optical properties of multiwall carbon nanotube structures made up of a single rolled-up graphite sheet. Physical Review B, 2005, 72: 085415.
Rurali, R., Coluci, V.R. and Galvao, D.S., Prediction of giant electroactuation for papyruslike carbon nanoscroll structures: first-principles calculations. Physical Review B, 2006, 74: 085414.
Shi, X.H., Pugno, N.M. and Gao, H.J., Tunable core size of carbon nanoscrolls. Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience, 2010, 7: 517–521.
Shi, X.H., Pugno, N.M. and Gao, H.J., Constitutive behavior of pressurized carbon nanoscrolls. International Journal of Fracture, 2010, Doi: 10.1007/s10704-010-9545-y.
Shi, X.H., Cheng, Y., Pugno, N.M. and Gao, H.J., Gigahertz breathing oscillators based on carbon nanoscrolls. Applied Physics Letters, 2009, 95: 163113.
Shi, X.H., Cheng, Y., Pugno, N.M. and Gao, H.J., A translational nanoactuator based on carbon nanoscrolls on substrates. Applied Physics Letters, 2010, 76: 053115.
Shi, X.H., Cheng, Y., Pugno, N.M. and Gao, H.J., Tunable water channels with carbon nanoscrolls. Small, 2010, 6: 739–744.
Zhang, Z. and Li, T., Carbon nanotube initiated formation of carbon nanoscrolls. Applied Physics Letters, 2010, 97: 081909.
Hess, B., Kutzner, C., van der Spoel, D. and Lindahl, E., Gromacs 4: algorithms for highly efficient, load-balanced, and scalable molecular simulation. Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, 2008, 4: 435–447.
Walther, J.H., Jaffe, R., Halicioglu, T. and Koumoutsakos, P., Carbon nanotubes in water: structural characteristics and energetics. Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2001, 105: 9980–9987.
Plimpton, S., Fast parallel algorithms for short-range molecular-dynamics. Journal of Computational Physics, 1995, 117: 1–19.
Patra, N., Wang, B.Y. and Krá., P., Nanodroplet activated and guided folding of graphene nanostructures. Nano Letters, 2009, 9: 3766–3771.
Martins, B.V.C. and Galvao, D.S., Curved graphene nanoribbons: structure and dynamics of carbon nanobelts. Nanotechnology, 2010, 21: 075710.
Xu, Z.P. and Buehler, M.J., Geometry controls conformation of graphene sheets: membranes, ribbons, and scrolls. ACS Nano, 2010, 4: 3869–3876.
Israelachvili, J., Intermolecular & Surface Forces. London: Academic Press, 1991.
Langlet, R., Devel, M. and Lambin, P., Computation of the static polarizabilities of multi-wall carbon nanotubes and fullerites using a gaussian regularized point dipole interaction model. Carbon, 2006, 44: 2883–2895.
Fogler, M.M., Castro Neto, A.H. and Guinea, F., Effect of external conditions on the structure of scrolled graphene edges. Physical Review B, 2010, 81: 161408.
Hummer, G., Rasaiah, J.C. and Noworyta, J.P., Water conduction through the hydrophobic channel of a carbon nanotube. Nature, 2001, 414: 156–159.
Garate, J.A., English, N.J. and MacElro., J.M.D., Carbon nanotube assisted water self-diffusion across lipid membranes in the absence and presence of electric fields. Molular Simulation, 2009, 35: 3–12.
Zhu, F.Q. and Schulten, K., Water and proton conduction through carbon nanotubes as models for biological channels. Biophysical Journal, 2003, 85: 236–244.
Wan, R.Z., Li, J.Y., Lu, H.J. and Fang, H.P., Controllable water channel gating of nanometer dimensions. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2005, 127: 7166–7170.
Joseph, S. and Aluru, N.R., Pumping of confined water in carbon nanotubes by rotation-translation coupling. Physical Review Letters, 2008, 101: 064502.
Liu, B., Li, X.Y., Li, B.L., Xu, B.Q. and Zhao, Y.L., Carbon nanotube based artificial water channel protein: Membrane perturbation and water transportation. Nano Letters, 2009, 9: 1386–1394.
Zou, J., Ji, B.H., Feng, X.Q. and Gao, H.J., Molecular-dynamic studies of carbon-water-carbon composite nanotubes. Small, 2006, 2: 1348–1355.
Yuan, Q.Z. and Zhao, Y.P., Hydroelectric voltage generation based on water-filled single-walled carbon nanotubes. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2009, 131: 6374–6376.
Mashl, R.J., Joseph, S., Aluru, N.R. and Jakobsson, E., Anomalously immobilized water: A new water phase induced by confinement in nanotubes. Nano Letters, 2003, 3: 589–592.
Gong, X.J., Li, J.Y., Lu, H.J., Wan, R.Z., Li, J.C., Hu, J. and Fang, H.P., A charge-driven molecular water pump. Nature Nanotechnology, 2007, 2: 709–712.
Li, J.Y., Gong, X.J., Lu, H.J., Li, D., Fang, H.P. and Zhou, R.H., Electrostatic gating of a nanometer water channel. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2007, 104: 3687–3692.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shi, X., Pugno, N.M. & Gao, H. Mechanics of carbon nanoscrolls: A review. Acta Mech. Solida Sin. 23, 484–497 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0894-9166(11)60002-5
Received:
Revised:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0894-9166(11)60002-5