Phases of neon, xenon, and methane adsorbed on nanotube bundles

Abstract

We explore the behavior of neon, xenon, and methane films adsorbed on the external surface of a bundle of carbon nanotubes. The methods used are classical: a ground state calculation, by grand potential energy minimization, and the grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) method of simulation. Our results are similar to those found recently in a GCMC study of Ar and Kr. At low chemical potential (pressure) the particles form a quasi-one-dimensional phase within the groove formed by two contiguous tubes. At higher chemical potential, there occurs a “three-stripe” phase aligned parallel to the groove (except for xenon). This is followed by monolayer and bilayer phases. The low temperature monolayer phase is striped; the number of stripes per nanotube is a quantized function of the adatom size. In the neon case, the bilayer regime also includes a second layer groove phase. Our results are compared with recent thermal and diffraction experiments. We find no evidence of a zigzag phase reported recently.