Liu, Zhilinyuan, xiaomingWang, ShiliangLiu, ShaTan, Hark HoeJagadish, Chennupati2023-02-220921-5093http://hdl.handle.net/1885/286382Nanowire-based devices have been widely applied in optoelectronics, sensors, generators and spectroscopy. These nanowires are typically subjected to mechanical conditions during manufacture or operation. Thus, a compressive understanding of nanowire mechanical properties is increasingly required. However, only limited results have been reported owing to the challenges inherent in nanomechanical testing, particularly for quantitative tensile deformation. Herein, taper-free zinc blende GaAs nanowires with a 120 nm diameter are grown along the [111]B direction using metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. The mechanical properties and fracture mechanisms of these single-phase GaAs nanowires are explored by in-situ uniaxial tensile deformation inside a transmission electron microscope, followed by molecular dynamics simulations. Under tensile stress, GaAs nanowires deform overally elastically until sudden brittle fracture at 3.79% strain. The fracture strength and elastic modulus are experimentally determined as 4.0 and 109.5 GPa, respectively, which are much smaller than other reported results based on compression. The tensile deformation and fracture mechanisms are further explored using molecular dynamics simulations, and the effects of different crystal structures on the GaAs nanowire mechanical behavior are discussed. These results assess the mechanical behavior of single GaAs nanowires and present critical insights into the reliable design of engineering nanodevices.This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51702368), Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 2018JJ3684), and Innovation-Driven Project of Central South University (No. 2018CX045). Z. Liu appreciates the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship program through the project MINIMAL (No. 749192). All authors acknowledge the Australian National Fabrication Facility - ACT Node for access to the GaAs nanowires, IMDEA Materials Institute and Central South University for in-situ TEM mechanical tests, Centro de Supercomputaci´on y Visualizaci´on de Madrid (CeSViMa) for computing resources and technical assistance, Ms. Z. Zhang (CSU) and Dr. M. Castillo-Rodríguez (IMDEA) for TEM technical assistance, Dr. S. Maccagnano-Zacher for proofreading, and Dr. J.M. Molina-Aldareguía (IMDEA) and Prof. J. Llorca for access to partial TEM mechanical tests.application/pdfen-AU© 2021 The authorsGaAs nanowiresNanomechanicsIn-situ TEM mechanical TestsTensile deformationMolecular dynamics simulation202110.1016/j.msea.2021.1408662021-12-19