Adsorption-induced shape transitions in bistable nanopores with atomically thin walls

Atomically thin cylindrical nanopores can change shape in response to physically adsorbed gas inside. Coupled to a gas reservoir, an initially collapsed pore can expand to allow the adsorbed gas to form concentric shells on the inner part of the pore, driven by adsorption energetics, not gas pressure. A lattice gas model describes the evolution of the nanotube pore shape and absorbed gas as a function of gas chemical potential at zero temperature. We found that narrow-enough tubes are always expanded and gas inside adsorbs in sequences of concentric shells as the gas chemical potential increases. Wider tubes, which are collapsed without gas, can expand with one or more concentric shells adsorbed on the inner surface of the expanded region.