The effect of non-covalent functionalization on the interaction energy of carbon nanotubes

The Lennard-Jones potential function together with the continuous approximation is employed to determine the van der Waals interaction between two parallel cylindrical nanotubes. Here we determine the interaction energy between carbon nanotubes and those with non-covalent functionalization polyether ether ketone (PEEK) polymer. The distance for any two tubes does not depend on the tube radii and the number of nanotube walls. This closest distance between two surfaces for any two tubes is determined to be 0.32 nm. Furthermore, the binding energy between two tubes depends on the number of walls. Non-covalent agglomeration with polymers reduces the interaction energy between tubes and reduces agglomeration of carbon nanotubes.