title: Young modulus, mechanical and electrical properties of isolated individual and bundled single-walled boron nitride nanotubes.
abstract: The Young modulus of individual single-walled boron nitride nanotubes (SW-BNNTs) was determined using a high-resolution transmission-electron microscope (HRTEM)-atomic force microscope (AFM) set-up. The Young modulus and maximum stress for these NTs were deduced from the analysis of the stress-strain curves, and discussed as a function of the considered value for the shell thickness of an SW-BNNT. The elastic properties of bundles of SW-BNNTs were also investigated. All these experiments revealed that SW-BNNTs are very flexible. Furthermore, the electrical behavior of these SW-BNNTs was also analyzed employing a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) holder integrated with the same HRTEM. I/V curves were measured on individual tubes as well as on bundles of SW-BNNTs.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Etude des Microstructures (LEM), ONERA-CNRS, Châtillon, France. raul.arenal@onera.fr
authors.forename: Raul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Arenal
authors.forename: Ming-Sheng
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Annick
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Loiseau
authors.forename: Dmitri
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Golberg