Carbon nanotubes oscillation under electric field

Oscillation mechanism of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) under various external electric fields is investigated by performing first principles molecular dynamics (MD) calculations on closed and open-ended CNTs. From MD calculations we observe that, in addition to the strength of the induced dipole moment, temperature, chirality, and moment of inertia of a CNT affect its oscillation frequency. We propose a procedure to discriminate CNTs with different moments of inertia and/or chiralities based on their different oscillation frequencies. The implication of our results in the process of nanotube insertion into biological cells, where the existing field across the cell membrane facilitates CNT penetration, is also discussed.