How Do Metal/Graphene Self-Assemble into Core Shelled Composite Nanostructures?

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were carried out to study the self-assembly of graphene and metallic particle. The metallic particle can help the graphene overcome the energy barrier, which leads to rapid self-scrolling of flat graphene and the formation of stable core shelled composite nanostructure. The van der Waals interaction plays an important role in the self-assembly. The chirality of the graphene does not affect the self-scrolling process, which thus provides a simple way of controlling the chiralities and the physical properties of the resulting conformations. This work opens new and exciting possibilities for the fabrication of metal/carbon core shelled composite nanostructures through the self-scrolling of graphene.