Abstract
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be used as atomic force microscope (AFM) probes since they are ideal tip materials with a small diameter, high aspect ratio, and stiffness. In this study, a model of CNTs clamped in an elastic medium is proposed as nanoscale force sensing AFM probes. The relationship between vibration frequency and axial force of the CNT probe clamped in an elastic medium is analyzed based on the Euler-Bernoulli beam model and the Whitney-Riley model. The clamped length of CNTs, and the elastic modulus of elastic medium affect largely on the vibration and the buckling stability of a CNT AFM probe. The result showed that the sensitivity to vibration increases as the applied loads increase. The critical load in which the vibration frequency decreases rapidly, moving to large ones with decreasing ratio of length to diameter of CNTs. The theoretical investigation on the vibration frequency of CNT loaded in the axial direction would give a useful reference for designing a CNT used as a nano-force sensor.
Highlights
The atomic force microscope (AFM) has attracted great interest in many scientific and technological fields, including measuring the force or potential energy between a small tip and a sample
We proposed that carbon nanotubes (CNTs) could be used as nanoscale force sensing AFM probes because the vibration frequency of CNTs is very sensitive to small loading values
When the axial load is applied to the CNTs, its vibration frequency will change with the loading values
Summary
The atomic force microscope (AFM) has attracted great interest in many scientific and technological fields, including measuring the force or potential energy between a small tip and a sample. The CNTs are potentially ideal materials to serve as components in an AFM probe and sensor because of their robust mechanical properties and well-defined geometry with small diameter and high aspect ratio. To investigate the potential applications of CNTs as AFM tip and nano-force sensor, some experimental and theoretical studies have been reported and studied on the mechanical stability of CNTs [20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27]. A cantilever beam model of CNTs clamped on an elastic substrate was proposed and used as a nano-force sensor, and the relationship between the vibration frequency and the axial loading are analyzed and discussed based on Euler-Bernoulli model and the Whitney-Riley model
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