Abstract
Nanoparticles have considerable promise for many applications in electronics, energy storage, bioscience and biotechnologies. Here we use applied mathematical modelling to exploit the basic principles of mechanics and the 6-12 Lennard-Jones potential function together with the continuum approach, which assumes that a discrete atomic structure can be replaced by an average constant atomic surface density of atoms that is assumed to be smeared over each molecule. We identify a circular hole in a graphene sheet as a nanopore and we consider the molecular interaction energy for both single-strand and double-strand DNA molecules assumed to move through the circular hole in a graphene sheet to determine the radius b of the hole that gives the minimum energy. By minimizing the interaction energy, we observe that the single-strand DNA and double-strand DNA molecules penetrate through a graphene nanopore when the pore radii b > 7.8 angstrom and b > 12.7 angstrom, respectively. Our results can be adopted to offer new applications in the atomic surface processes and electronic sensing. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.