Determination of the elastic properties of SiO2 nanotubes templated from organic amphiphilic self-assemblies through inorganic transcription

Amorphous SiO2 nanotubes (NTs) with outer and inner diameters of 35 +/- 4 nm and 10 +/- 4 nm, respectively, were synthesized through inorganic transcription using organic amphiphilic self-assemblies as templates. By performing three-point bending tests on suspended SiO2 NTs using an atomic force microscope, their elastic modulus was determined to be 73.3 +/- 6.7 GPa which is comparable to that of bulk SiO2 as well as amorphous SiO2 nanowires obtained using chemical vapor deposition. These measurements were validated using finite element method calculations and show the crucial role played by the clamping conditions to determine the actual Young's modulus. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4801760]