Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Claimed to be ""wonder material"", graphene is a super-strong and transparent form of carbon with one atom thickness which can be used in solar panels and lightweight composites. A carbon nanotube is a cylinder made of graphene. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphenes have been discovered to hold great potential for countless technology innovations and applications, such as extremely lightweight and strong fabrics, chemical sensors, electrical sensors, fuel cells, and drug delivery. Unfortunately, their prompt and wide applications are hindered by insufficient understanding of their mechanical behaviour due to limitations of two major traditional approaches for graphene and CNTs modelling: atomistic modelling such as classical molecular dynamics which is usually limited to small scale calculations and local continuum mechanics which have limited applicability due to the fact that at small size the lattice spacing between individual atoms becomes increasingly important and the theory cannot account for the scale effect. The applicant will aim at advancing the understanding of graphene and CNTs' mechanical behaviour through modelling with nonlocal continuum mechanics to circumvent the limitations of the widely used classical/local continuum mechanics by allowing for the small scale effects in analysis of nano-materials with relatively simple and less computationally expensive formulations than the atomic modelling. The proposed program will investigate the applicability of nonlocal elastic models with atomic simulations. In addition, the nonlocal elastic theory will be applied to two important practical studies on atomic transporters or gas sensors to identify the potential of the two materials in scientific and engineering applications. The long-term goal of the program is to enhance fundamental understanding of graphenes and CNTs' mechanical behaviour leading to revolutionary development and application of the materials. The research findings are expected to promote the sales of Canadian CNTs' producers like Raymor. It is also expected that eventually they will embody into the CNTs' design and usage by organizations like Boeing Canada Ltd.