High friction coefficient of vertically aligned carbon-nanotubes: A molecular dynamics simulation

Abstract

In this study, we perform non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations to study the friction coefficient between two carbon nanotubes grown vertically on two separate graphene layers, which are placed parallel to each other with one set in motion. Significantly high values of approximately 3 and 1.5 are computed for the static and dynamic friction coefficients, respectively. The effects of nanotubes overlapping length, speed of relative movement on the dynamic friction coefficient are also studied in our work. According to our results, and in agreement with the standard model of friction, dynamic friction between the two carbon nanotubes remains constant, regardless of the relative speed of their movement.

Keywords

• Carbon nanotube
• Friction coefficient
• Molecular dynamics