Stabilities and catapults of truncated carbon nanocones

Truncated carbon nanocones (CNCs) can be taken as energy suppliers because of their special structures. In this paper, we demonstrate the stability of truncated CNCs under compression and the escape behavior of a fullerene catapulted from a compressed CNC by molecular dynamics simulations and theoretical models. The strain energy of a CNC and cohesive energy between a fullerene and the CNC (due to their van der Waals interactions) dominate the stability and catapulting capability of the cone, which strongly depend on geometrical parameters (apex angle, top radius and height) of each CNC and axial distances between them. In particular, the additional transverse vibration of buckled CNCs after released plays a significant role in their catapulting abilities and efficiencies. Finally, finite element method and experiments are further performed to validate the escape mechanism. This study should be of great importance to providing a theoretical support for designing novel nanodevices in mico/nanoelectromechanical systems.