Diverse nanowires activated self-scrolling of graphene nanoribbons

Diverse nanowires (NWs) activating the self-scrolling of planar graphene (GN) nanoribbons have been studied by using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Once the NWs' radiuses reach a threshold, all the seven NWs, acting as an external force, can initiate the conformational change of the GN nanoribbons, and finally form the core/shell composite NWs. Our simulation found that van der Waals (vdW) force plays an important role in the process of forming core/shell composite NWs. This preparation method of the core/shell composite NWs will open a further development of a broad new class of metal/GN core/shell composite NWs with enhanced properties. And these core/shell structures can be the building blocks of functional nanodevices with unique mechanical, electrical, or optical properties. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.