Dynamic friction force in a carbon peapod oscillator

We investigate a new generation of fullerene nano-oscillators: a single-walled carbon nanotube with one buckyball inside with an operating frequency in the tens-of-gigahertz range. A quantitative characterization of energy dissipation channels in the peapod pair has been performed via molecular dynamics simulation. Edge effects are found to be the dominant cause of dynamic friction in the carbon-peapod oscillators. A comparative study on the energy dissipation also reveals the significant impact of temperature and impulse velocity on the frictional force. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version) Nanoscale fabrication technologies have had a pervasive impact over the past 20 years [1]. One of the manifestations has been in the area of nano-electro-mechanical-systems (NEMS) [2], which broadly refers to the application of nano-fabrication technologies to construct sensors, actuators, and