title: 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?
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40292, USA.
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Jayanthi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Tombler
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Alexseyev
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dai