Stretchy electronics potential from anelastic nanowire

This advance in understanding nanoscale anelasticity – where the wires, when bent, return slowly to their original shape – was made by researchers at North Carolina State University and Brown University.

“All materials have some degree of anelasticity, but it is usually negligible at the macroscopic scale,” said Yong Zhu, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at NC State and corresponding author of a paper describing the work. “Because nanowires are so small, the anelasticity is significant and easily observed - although it was a total surprise when we first discovered the anelasticity in nanowires.”

According to NCSU, the anelasticity was discovered when Zhu and his students were studying the buckling behaviour of nanowires.

“Anelasticity is a fundamental mechanical property of nanowires, and we need to understand these sort of mechanical behaviours if we want to incorporate nanowires into electronics or other devices,” said Elizabeth Dickey, a professor of materials science and engineering at NC State and co-author of the paper. Nanowires hold promise for use in a variety of applications, including flexible, stretchable and wearable electronic devices.