Carbon nanotori as traps for atoms and ions

Abstract

Carbon nanotori surely represent an ideal location to trap both charged and uncharged atoms, since they are open, accessible and possess strong attractive energy. In this paper, we investigate the plausibility of carbon nanotori as atomic traps and we use the continuum approximation together with the Lennard-Jones potential to model the encapsulation of an atom or ion by a nanotorus. The critical geometric factors such as the minor and major radii, i.e. r and R of the nanotorus, for which the maximum interaction between the atom and the nanotorus occurs, are determined. For various atoms, assumed situated along the axis of the torus, the minimum potential energy between the atom and the nanotorus is calculated and compared, and shown to be approximately kηε σ2, where η is the uniform atomic density, ε and σ are the Lennard-Jones well depth and the van der Waals radius, respectively, and k is a universal non-dimensional constant with the approximate value -12.42. The results given in this paper might be used for future drug delivery and biosensing design. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.