Zhou Dongdong, Zhang Xiaofei, Yu Gang, Li Chun, Tang Zhengqiang, Bi Kedong
Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Design and Manufacturing of Precision Medicine Equipment, School of Mechanical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, 211189, China.
College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310032, China.
Nanoscale. 2025 Jul 10;17(27):16534-16543. doi: 10.1039/d5nr01583a.
Heterostructures have been introduced to achieve superior performance by assembling low-dimensional van der Waals materials. However, the friction properties of nanohybrids composed of one-dimensional (1D) nanotubes and two-dimensional (2D) materials remain challenging to detect experimentally. Herein, we employ atomic simulations to investigate the relationship between friction and deformation in a sandwich structure, where a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) is encapsulated between graphene layers. The results demonstrate that the nanotube shape transitions from a circular to oval cross section, and eventually collapses as compressive force increases. In the linear elastic regime, the radial stiffness of SWCNT exhibits an inverse cubic dependence on the nanotube radius ( ∝ 1/). Concurrently, the rolling ratio in the linear elastic deformation regime is described by a cubic equation. As the nanotubes are squeezed into collapsed states, the motion changes from rolling to sliding. The transition of movement is attributed to the competition between strain energy and adhesion energy. The shear stress remains nearly constant during rolling, while it increases proportionally with normal stress under sliding conditions. Our findings provide deep insights into the linear elastic properties of nanotubes, contributing to their potential applications in reinforced composite materials and the design of rolling superlubricity for nano-electro-mechanical system (NEMS) devices.
通过组装低维范德华材料引入异质结构以实现卓越性能。然而，由一维（1D）纳米管和二维（2D）材料组成的纳米杂化物的摩擦特性在实验检测方面仍然具有挑战性。在此，我们采用原子模拟来研究三明治结构中摩擦与变形之间的关系，其中单壁碳纳米管（SWCNT）被封装在石墨烯层之间。结果表明，随着压缩力增加，纳米管的形状从圆形横截面转变为椭圆形横截面，最终坍塌。在线性弹性区域，SWCNT的径向刚度与纳米管半径呈反立方关系（∝1/）。同时，线性弹性变形区域的滚动比由一个三次方程描述。当纳米管被挤压成坍塌状态时，运动从滚动变为滑动。运动的转变归因于应变能和粘附能之间的竞争。滚动过程中剪应力几乎保持恒定，而在滑动条件下它与法向应力成比例增加。我们的发现为纳米管的线性弹性特性提供了深入见解，有助于其在增强复合材料中的潜在应用以及纳米机电系统（NEMS）器件滚动超润滑性的设计。
