Atomistic mechanical testing of nanostructures - Seeing the invisible and bridging theory and experiments

Recently there has been a major thrust to develop novel nanomaterials exhibiting unique properties. These nanostructures are envisioned as building blocks for the next generation of electronic and energy harvesting systems. In this context, identification of their size-dependent properties is essential, but due to challenges in nanoscale experimentation, unambiguous characterization of mechanical and electromechanical behavior has been elusive. However, in the past few years, in-situ experimentation has emerged as a powerful technique to overcome these challenges. Furthermore, the coupling of such experimental findings to atomistic simulations has shown to have the potential to reveal mechanistic insights, essential for the deep understanding of nanoscale behavior. Here, we present a summary of a few significant results obtained by our group using this approach. Specifically, we discuss size effects that influence the mechanical and electromechanical properties of metallic and semiconducting nanowires.