Electromechanical stiffening of rods and tubes

Journal article

The buckling of multi-walled carbon nanotubes and rods was discussed. It was shown that electrostatic interactions exert a significant effect on the buckling instability of a rod. The threshold value of the compressional force needed to induce buckling was found to be independent of rod length for long charged rods. The critical buckling force crosses over from the classic inverse-square length dependence to asymptotic length-independent form with increasing rod length, in the case of rods of intermediate length. It was suggested that this effect leads to the possibility of electromechanical stiffening of nanotubes, which would allow relatively long segments of them to be used as atomic force probes.

Authors: Zandi, R; Golestanian, R; Rudnick, J

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS
• Volume: 84
• Issue: 26
• Pages: 5467-5469
• Publication date: 2004-06-28
• DOI: 10.1063/1.1757018
• ISSN: 0003-6951
• Language: English