Investigation of the Dynamic Behavior of Bridged Nanotube Resonators by Dissipative Particle Dynamics Simulation

Carbon nanotube (CNT)-based bridged resonators are investigated using a mesoscale dissipative particle dynamics model. Owing to their nanometer size, low mass, and ultrahigh resonance frequency, CNT-based resonators have the potential to become excellent tension, strain, or mass sensors. In this report, the resonance frequency of tubes of different lengths and in different states of tension is extracted from the numerical results and shown to fit with continuum elastic theory. Since in many cases, CNTs are produced slacked rather than taut, the effect of slackness on the resonance frequencies is presented and shown to reduce the sensitivity of the resonator considerably. According to our simulations, temperature has a major effect on the resonance frequencies and should be considered when analyzing bridged resonators. The investigation includes measurements of the vibration amplitude at different temperature, tube length, and strain. The intrinsic quality factor of carbon nanotube resonators is also discussed. Finally, the simulations presented here show that the dissipative particle dynamics model is suited to describe CNT devices such as resonator-based sensors.