Carbon nanoribbons (CNRs) are graphene (planar) structures with large aspectratio. Carbon nanobelts (CNBs) are small graphene nanoribbons rolled up intospiral-like structures, i. e., carbon nanoscrolls (CNSs) with large aspectratio. In this work we investigated the energetics and dynamical aspects ofCNBs formed from rolling up CNRs. We have carried out molecular dynamicssimulations using reactive empirical bond-order potentials. Our results showthat similarly to CNSs, CNBs formation is dominated by two major energycontribution, the increase in the elastic energy due to the bending of theinitial planar configuration (decreasing structural stability) and theenergetic gain due to van der Waals interactions of the overlapping surface ofthe rolled layers (increasing structural stability). Beyond a critical diametervalue these scrolled structures can be even more stable (in terms of energy)than their equivalent planar configurations. In contrast to CNSs that requireenergy assisted processes (sonication, chemical reactions, etc.) to be formed,CNBs can be spontaneously formed from low temperature driven processes. LongCNBs (length of $\sim$ 30.0 nm) tend to exhibit self-folded racket-likeconformations with formation dynamics very similar to the one observed for longcarbon nanotubes. Shorter CNBs will be more likely to form perfect scrolledstructures. Possible synthetic routes to fabricate CNBs from graphene membranesare also addressed.
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