Molecular dynamics study of carbon-nanotube shuttle-memory on graphene nanoribbon array

Carbon nanomaterials, such as fullerenes, graphenes, and nanotubes, have a unique place in nanoscience, owing to their exceptional electrical, thermal, chemical and mechanical properties, and the number of their potential applications continues to grow. Conjugated carbon nanomaterials, such as fullerene–nanotube, fullerene–graphene, and nanotube–graphene hybrids, also have great potential applications. In this work, we present the schematics and the energetics of a nonvolatile memory based on nanotube–graphene hybrid, serving as the key building blocks for molecular-scale computers, and investigated the dynamic operations of a double-walled carbon nanotube (CNT) memory element, by using classical molecular dynamics simulations. The localized potential energy wells, achieved from the vdW energies between the outer CNT and two graphene-nanoribbons (GNRs), cause bi-stability of the outer CNT positions; and the alternative driving forces lead to the reversibility of this shuttle memory. Since the attractive vdW potential energies between the outer CNT and GNR make the outer CNT keep its position, the proposed shuttle-memory device can retain its stored data, without recharging processes.