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The conversion of other forms of energy into mechanical work through thegeometrical extension and retraction of nanomaterials has a wide variety ofpotential applications, including for mimicking biomotors. Here, usingmolecular dynamic simulations, we demonstrate that there exists an intrinsicenergy conversion mechanism between thermal energy and mechanical work in thetelescopic motions of double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs). A DWCNT caninherently convert heat into mechanical work in its telescopic extensionprocess, while convert mechanical energy into heat in its telescopic retractionprocess. These two processes are thermodynamically reversible. The underlyingmechanism for this reversibility is that the entropy changes with thetelescopic overlapping length of concentric individual tubes. We find also thatthe entropy effect enlarges with the decreasing intertube space of DWCNTs. As aresult, the spontaneously telescopic motion of a condensed DWCNT can beswitched to extrusion by rising the system temperature above a critical value.These findings are important for fundamentally understanding the mechanicalbehavior of concentric nanotubes, and may have general implications in theapplication of DWCNTs as linear motors in nanodevices.

Intrinsic energy conversion mechanism via telescopic extension and retraction of concentric carbon nanotubes