Thermophoretically Driven Carbon Nanotube Oscillators

The behavior of a nanodevice based upon double-walled carbon nanotube oscillators driven by periodically applied thermal gradients (7 and 17 K/nm) is investigated by numerical calculations and classical molecular dynamics simulations. Our results indicate that thermophoresis can be effective to initiate the oscillator and that suitable heat pulses may provide an appropriate way to tune its behavior. Sustained regular oscillatory as well as chaotic motions were observed for the systems investigated in this work.