Coarse grained molecular dynamics and theoretical studies of carbon nanotubes entering cell membrane

Motivated by recent experimental observations that carbon nanotubes (CNT) can enter animal cells, here we conduct coarse grained molecular dynamics and theoretical studies of the intrinsic interaction mechanisms between CNT's and lipid bilayer. The results indicate that CNT-cell interaction is dominated by van der Waals and hydrophobic forces, and that CNT's with sufficiently small radii can directly pierce through cell membrane while larger tubes tend to enter cell via a wrapping mechanism. Theoretical models are proposed to explain the observed size effect in transition of entry mechanisms.