Double-Walled Carbon Nanotubes with Dynamic Strength of over 90 GPa Enhanced by Intershell Friction

HJ Yue and HZ Xing and LX Qin and YX Bai and XY Li and F Wei, ADVANCED MATERIALS, 37 (2025).

DOI: 10.1002/adma.202414643

Low-dimensional ultra-strong nanomaterials have attracted great anticipation for applications under extreme dynamic conditions. A photocatalytic method is developed to selectively cut off the outer shell of double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs), achieving non-contact measurement of intershell friction with both high temporal and spatial resolutions at high sliding velocities under optical microscope. The intershell friction linearly increases with the sliding velocity, with a slope related to intershell distance and chirality of DWCNTs. The maximum measured friction reaches 194.1 +/- 7.3 nN at a sliding velocity of 977 mm s(-1), a value comparable to the tensile force (approximate to 450 nN) for breaking the outer shell. Molecular dynamics simulations indicate that the velocity-dependent intershell friction is related to dynamic localized commensurate contacts. The friction-induced "intershell locking" enhances the effective dynamic strength of DWCNTs from 64.8 +/- 3.4 GPa to 90.1 +/- 4.0 GPa at a tensile strain rate of 3300 s(-1). This study reveals anomalous friction mechanisms at nanoscale and demonstrates promising application of DWCNTs as ultra- strong materials.

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