Thermomechanical Behavior of Zinc Oxide Nanobelts

Belt-like ZnO nanostructures with rectangular cross-sections have recently been synthesized through vapor deposition (Pan

et al.

) [

1

]. These nanobelts can serve as building blocks for functional nano-systems. The integration of these nanostructures in systems requires understanding of their inherent properties, functionalities and behavior. An atomistic framework is developed to evaluate the thermomechanical behavior of these nanobelts. Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to characterize the response to uniaxial tensile loading. The ultimate tensile strength, strain at failure and Young’s modulus are obtained as functions of temperature, size and growth orientation. The results are compared with the behavior of bulk ZnO.