Electromechanical and electro-optical properties of nanowires

In an external (static of high-frequency) electric field, image forces cause a torque moment to act on semiconducting or metallic nanowires. As a result, a system of nanowires which are suspended in a dielectric liquid acquire characteristics, typical of those of nematic liquid crystals, such as field-induced optical anisotropy. For freestanding nanowires prepared on a substrate, an applied electric field is shown to be capable of causing nanowire bending, which can potentially provide a means of nanoactuation. The bending of such nanowires in a high-frequency electric field is comprised of a superposition of static bending and induced mechanical oscillations, whose amplitude depends on the resonant mechanical vibration characteristics of the nanowires.