Flexoelectric and surface effects on the electromechanical behavior of graphene-based nanobeams

Abstract

In this novel work, the electromechanical behavior of graphene-based nanocomposite (GNC) beams with flexoelectric and surface effects were investigated using size-dependent Euler-Bernoulli theory, linear piezoelectricity and Galerkin's weighted residual method along with modified strength of materials and finite element (FE) approaches. In addition, analytical and FE models were developed to study the static response of flexoelectric GNC nanobeams with various boundary conditions: cantilever, simply-supported and clamped-clamped. The developed models predict that the effective piezoelectric coefficients of GNC are responsible for the actuation capability of a graphene layer in the transverse direction due to the applied field in its axial direction and the predictions by both the models are found to be in good agreement. Results reveal that the flexoelectric and surface effects on the static response of GNC nanobeams are significant and should be taken into account. The electromechanical response of GNC nanobeams can be tailored to achieve the required coupled electromechanical characteristics of a vast range of NEMS using various boundary conditions and thickness of nanobeam as well as volume fraction of graphene. Our fundamental study sheds a light on the possibility of developing high-performance and lightweight graphene-based NEMS such as nanosensors, nanogenerators and nanoresonators using non-piezoelectric graphene.