The effect of nonuniform surface elasticity on buckling of ZnO nanowires

This paper investigates the effect of surface elasticity on the Euler buckling of ZnO nanowires under axial compressive loads, in particular, on the effective elastic modulus, the critical compressive load, and the critical stress. Two modes of boundary conditions are studied in this paper: the fixed-fixed nanowire mode (mode 1) and the fixed-pinned nanowire mode (mode 2). Depending on a group of fitting surface parameters, analytical solutions for the effective elastic modulus, the critical buckling load and the critical stress with the effect of surface elasticity are presented. It is found that the surface elasticity plays a significant role in the buckling of ZnO nanowires because of the large surface-to-volume ratio. This study is expected to be helpful for further research of nanosized elements and nanobeam-based devices. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.