Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: Recently, nanomechanical devices composed of a long stationary inner carbon nanotube and a shorter, slowly rotating outer tube have been fabricated. In this paper, we study the possibility of using such devices as nanoscale transducers of motion into electricity. When the outer tube is chiral, we show that such devices act like quantum Archimedes screws, which utilize mechanical energy to pump electrons between reservoirs. We calculate the pumped charge from one end of the inner tube to the other, driven by the rotation of a chiral outer nanotube. We show that the pumped charge can be greater than one electron per 360° rotation, and consequently, such a device operating with a rotational frequency of 10 MHz, for example, would deliver a current of ≈1 pAmp.
Source: ACS Nano
DOI: 10.1021/nn1020242
Authors: László Oroszlány, Viktor Zólyomi, Colin J. Lambert
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1527802168