Mechanical properties of suspended individual carbon nanotube studied by atomic force microscope

This paper is a short review on the mechanical properties of individual carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which were studied by atomic force microscope (AFM). AFM force-distance measurements were applied to three different nano structures based on the suspended CNTs, those are a straight suspended CNT, a coiled CNT, and a torsional CNT. Force-distance measurements were done on the pick and valley position of the coiled CNT and the estimated elastic moduli was compared with the straight one. Nanoscale metal plate was fabricated on the middle part of the suspended CNT structure using conventional lithography and etching procedure. The torsional modulus of the suspended CNT was estimated from the force-distance measurement using AFM manipulation on top of the metal plate. The paper covers synthesis and preparation method of various suspended CNT structure and the analysis of the force-distance measurements appropriate to each CNT structure. Prospects of the AFM force-distance measurements on emergent nano scale materials as well as CNT are suggested in the end of this paper. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.