A comparison of different interatomic potentials: Radius effect of single wall carbon nanotubes

Abstract

We have compared Brenner's (1990) interatomic potential and Brenner et al.'s (2002) second-generation potential on the radius effect of single wall carbon nanotubes. Our analysis is based on the modified Cauchy-Born rule to incorporate the interatomic potential into a continuum analysis. The results have shown that Brenner et al.'s (2002) second-generation potential gives more accurate equilibrium bond length. These potentials also display rather different radius dependence of the Young's modulus and simple tension and pure torsion behavior of single wall carbon nanotubes. © 2007 Springer.