Silicon/graphene core/shell nanowires produced by self-scrolling

We demonstrate that Silicon (Si) nanowires (NWs) can activate the self-scrolling of planar graphene (GN) nanoribbons by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Once the NWs’ radius reach a threshold, they can act as an external force that initiate the conformational changes of the GN nanoribbons, and then activate self-scrolling GN onto them. It is found that the van der Waals (vdW) force plays an important role in the formation of the core/shell composite NWs. And this core/shell structures can be used in nanoelectronics, spintronics, hydrogen storage, energy storage in supercapacitors or batteries, and even introduce new functionalities to composite materials.