RSC Advances 4 (2014) 56970
Arixin Bo, Haifei Zhan, John Bell, Huaiyong Zhu, Yuantong Gu
Bending of bridged Na2Ti3O7 nanowires was studied employing Nanosurf FlexAFM scan head with C3000 controller. To perform quantitative force spectroscopy measurements, the detector sensitivity and the spring constant of the AFM probe was determined using calibration procedures built in Nanosurf C3000 software. After performing AFM imaging of the sample, the probe was placed in the mid-point of a nanowire fixed above a hole in the substrate. The force-distance spectroscopy curves obtained at this location showed loading and unloading of the nanowire during its bending. Using modified beam theories, Young's modulus and yield strength for Na2Ti3O7 nanowires were calculated from force-distance curves.
