AFM-based comparative analysis of combinatorial size-dependence theories of static bending nanowires

This paper proposes an experimental evaluation method based on Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) to compare and analyze the prediction accuracy of various theories on the size dependence of nanowires. The experimental elastic moduli of polyacrylonitrile nanowires were measured with an AFM-based static bending experiment. Theoretical predictions of the nanowires' elastic moduli were made using the analytic solutions of three individual theories and three combinational theories. Through comparing the fitting behaviors of aforementioned theories, the prediction results of these theories were explored and discussed. It was observed that the combinational theories demonstrated better prediction accuracy than any of the individual theories alone.