Vibration analysis of nanomechanical mass sensor using carbon nanotubes under axial tensile loads

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are nanomaterials with many potential applications due to their excellent mechanical and physical properties. In this paper, we proposed that CNTs with clamped boundary condition under axial tensile loads were considered as CNT-based resonators. Moreover, the resonant frequencies and frequency shifts of the CNTs with attached mass were investigated based on two theoretical methods, which are Euler–Bernoulli beam theory and Rayleigh’s energy method. Using the present methods, we analyzed and discussed the effects of the aspect ratio, the concentrated mass and the axial force on the resonant frequency of the CNTs. The results indicate that the length of CNTs could be easily changed and could provide higher sensitivity as nanomechanical mass sensor. Moreover, the resonant frequency shifts of the CNT resonator increase significantly with increasing tensile load acting on the CNTs.