On the importance of boundary conditions on nanomechanical bending behavior and elastic modulus determination of silver nanowires

Nanomechanical bending behavior and elastic modulus of silver nanowires (65–140nm∅) suspended across silicon microchannels were investigated using digital pulsed force mode (DPFM) atomic force microscopy through coincident imaging and force profiling. Deflection profiles analyzed off-line demonstrate the role of bending nanowire shape and symmetry in experimentally determining boundary conditions, eliminating the need to rely on isolated midpoint bending measurements and the usual assumptions for supported-end behavior. Elastic moduli for as-prepared silver nanowires ranged from 80.4±5.3to96.4±12.8GPa, which met or exceeded the literature values for bulk silver. The calculated moduli were based on classic modeling, both with one-dimensional analytical solutions and three-dimensional finite element analysis. Modeling results indicate that the classic models are accurate as long as the boundary conditions are not arbitrarily assumed but directly confirmed by data analysis. DPFM also facilitated the experimental determination of sample gauge lengths from images and bending profiles.