Electrostatic deflections of cantilevered semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes

How carbon nanotubes behave in an external electric field? What will be the relation between the intensity of the electric field and the tube's deformation? What are the geometry effects on the response of carbon nanotubes to electric fields? To answer these questions, we have developed a new combined computational technique to study electrostatic field induced deformations of carbon nanotubes. In this work, we find that the deflection angle of cantilevered semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes is proportional to the square of the electric field strength, and the tubes can be most bent when the field angle ranges from 45 to 60 degrees. Furthermore, the deflection angle is also found to be proportional to the aspect ratio L/R. Our results provide a good qualitative agreement with those of one previous experimental study.