Copyright © 2008 M. P. Manoharan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Zinc oxide nanowires, nanobelts, and nanoneedles were synthesized using the vapor-liquid-solid technique. Young's modulus of the nanowires was measured by performing cantilever bending experiments on individual nanowires in situ inside a scanning electron microscope. The nanowires tested had diameters in the range of 200–750 nm. The average Young's modulus, measured to be 40 GPa, is about 30% of that reported at the bulk scale. The experimental results are discussed in light of the pronounced electromechanical coupling due to the piezoelectric nature of the material.