Abstract Nanorings are prone to folding as a result of the competition between van der Waals interactions and mechanical rigidity, and thus have promising potential applications in reprogrammable/reconfigurable and strain engineering fields. A small-deformation continuum model is proposed to investigate the folding of nanorings and to predict their critical radii for stable folding. The critical radius of a nanoring is found to be dependent on the ratio of the component nanotube bending stiffness to the inter-tube binding energy, both of which are dependent on the radius of the component nanotube. The unfolding of folded nanorings by annealing is also studied through molecular dynamics simulations.

中文翻译：

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纳米环折叠力学

摘要 由于范德华相互作用和机械刚度之间的竞争，纳米环容易折叠，因此在可重编程/可重配置和应变工程领域具有广阔的应用前景。提出了一种小变形连续体模型来研究纳米环的折叠并预测其稳定折叠的临界半径。发现纳米环的临界半径取决于组分纳米管弯曲刚度与管间结合能的比率，这两者都取决于组分纳米管的半径。还通过分子动力学模拟研究了通过退火展开折叠纳米环。