Simultaneous measurement of static and kinetic friction of ZnO nanowires in situ with a scanning electron microscope

• Published in: Micron (Oxford, England : 1993) Vol. 43; no. 11; pp. 1140 - 1146
• Main Authors: Polyakov, Boris, Dorogin, Leonid M., Vlassov, Sergei, Kink, Ilmar, Romanov, Alexey E., Lohmus, Rynno
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.11.2012
• Subjects: Bending; Fracture strength; friction; In situ electron microscopy; Kinetic friction; Nanocomposites; Nanomanipulation; Nanomaterials; Nanostructure; Nanotribology; Nanowires; scanning electron microscopes; Scanning electron microscopy; silicon; Static friction; Zinc oxide; Zinc oxide nanowires; Nanomanipulation; Zinc oxide nanowires; Nanotribology; Static friction; Fracture strength; In situ electron microscopy
• ISSN: 0968-4328; 1878-4291
• DOI: 10.1016/j.micron.2012.01.009

► ZnO nanowires are manipulated on oxidised silicon inside scanning electron microscope. ► The elastic deformation of a manipulated nanowire was used to determine the distributed static and kinetic friction force. ► In similar way fracture tensile stress was calculated for a broken nanowire. A novel method for in situ measurement of the static and kinetic friction is developed and demonstrated for zinc oxide nanowires (NWs) on oxidised silicon wafers. The experiments are performed inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with a nanomanipulator with an atomic force microscope tip as a probe. NWs are pushed by the tip from one end until complete displacement is achieved, while NW bending is monitored by the SEM. The elastic bending profile of a NW during the manipulation process is used to calculate the static and kinetic friction forces.