Orbiting nanosectors inside carbon nanotori

Abstract

The notion of nanotransport or nanomotion is presently a theoretical concept only, in that no one has actually observed the phenomena in an experimental context. For example, the oscillatory motion of one carbon nanotube sliding inside another is predicted on the basis of molecular dynamics studies, and the authors have provided some elementary modelling of the phenonmena. More recently, the authors have modelled a C60 fullerene orbiting inside a nanotori. The related problem of a carbon nanotorus–nanosector oscillator or orbiter is examined, in which a small sector of a nanotorus orbits inside a second seamless nanotorus of larger radius. Using elementary mechanical principles and applied mathematical modelling techniques, we determine the equilibrium configuration for a number of carbon nanotorus–nanosector oscillators and subsequently investigate their operating frequencies. In line with carbon nanotube oscillators, the proposed analysis predicts orbiting frequencies in the gigahertz range.