Orientational melting of two-shell carbon nanoparticles: molecular dynamics study

The energetic characteristics of two-shell carbon nanoparticles ("onions") with different shapes of second shell are calculated. The barriers of relative rotation of shells are found to be surprisingly small; therefore, free relative rotation of shells can take place at room temperature. The intershell orientational melting of the nanoparticle $C_{60}@C_{240}$ is studied by molecular dynamics. The parameters of Arrhenius formula for jump rotational intershell diffusion are calculated. The definition of orientational melting temperature is proposed as the temperature when the transition probability over barrier between equivalent potential minima is equal to 1/2. The temperature of orientational melting of the nanoparticle $C_{60}@C_{240}$ is about 60 K.