Interaction between glycine/glycine radicals and intrinsic/boron-doped (8,0) single-walled carbon nanotubes: a density functional theory study.

The adsorptions of a glycine molecule as well as dehydrogenated radicals on the side walls of both intrinsic and boron-doped (B-doped) single-walled (8,0) carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) were investigated by a density functional theory. A glycine molecule tends to physically adsorb on intrinsic SWCNTs yet chemically adsorb on B-doped SWCNTs as a result of a somewhat chemical bond between the electron-rich nitrogen atom of the glycine molecule and the electron-scarce boron atom of the doped SWCNT. Opposite to the previous report (J. Phys. Chem. B 2006, 110, 6048-6050), it is found in the present study that both the N-centered and C-centered glycine radicals can form quite stable complexes with intrinsic as well as B-doped (8,0) SWCNTs. When the B-doped SWCNT interacts with glycine radicals, although there is a competition between B and the neighbor C in the nanotube axis direction, glycine radicals preferentially bind to the C site. The encapsulations of a glycine molecule into SWCNTs with various diameters are also discussed. We find that the encapsulation process is endothermic for (8,0) and (9,0) SWCNTs, while it is exothermic for (10,0) SWCNTs, indicating that the critical diameter of the zigzag SWCNT for the encapsulation is 7.83 A, the diameter of (10,0).