Controllable reversibility of an sp(2) to sp(3) transition of a single wall nanotube under the manipulation of an AFM tip: A nanoscale electromechanical switch?
A simulation of the deflection of a single wall nanotube under the manipulation of an atomic force microscope tip revealed the key feature characterizing the deformation at relatively small bending angles to be a reversible transition from sp(2) to sp(3) bonding configurations in the bending region, leading to a 2 orders of magnitude reduction in conductance consistent with our most recent experimental observation. A local analysis elucidating the underlying physics of the findings is also discussed.
Liu
L
Department of Physics, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40292, USA.
Jayanthi
CS
Tang
M
Wu
SY
Tombler
TW
Zhou
C
Alexseyev
L
Kong
J
Dai
H