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The interlayer sliding energy landscape of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is investigated via a van der Waals corrected density functional theory approach. It is found that the main role of the van der Waals forces is to anchor the layers at a fixed distance, whereas the electrostatic forces dictate the optimal stacking mode and the interlayer sliding energy. A nearly free-sliding path is identified, along which band gap modulations of ∼0.6  eV are obtained. We propose a simple geometric model that quantifies the registry matching between the layers and captures the essence of the corrugated h-BN interlayer energy landscape. The simplicity of this phenomenological model opens the way to the modeling of complex layered structures, such as carbon and boron nitride nanotubes.

We develop a theory of near-field Raman enhancement in one-dimensional systems, and report supporting experimental results for carbon nanotubes. The enhancement is established by a laser-irradiated nanoplasmonic structure acting as an optical antenna. The near-field Raman intensity is inversely proportional to the 10th power of the separation between the enhancing structure and the one-dimensional system. Experimental data obtained from single-wall carbon nanotubes indicate that the Raman enhancement process is not significantly influenced by the specific phonon eigenvector, and is mainly defined by the properties of the nanoplasmonic structure.

We experimentally observed atomic-scale torsional stick-slip behavior in individual nanotubes of tungsten disulfide (WS2). When an external torque is applied to a WS2 nanotube, all its walls initially stick and twist together, until a critical torsion angle, at which the outer wall slips and twists around the inner walls, further undergoing a series of stick-slip torque oscillations. We present a theoretical model based on density-functional-based tight-binding calculations, which explains the torsional stick-slip behavior in terms of a competition between the effects of the in-plane shear stiffness of the WS2 walls and the interwall friction arising from the atomic corrugation of the interaction between adjacent WS2 walls.