Dynamic fatigue studies of ZnO nanowires by in‐situ transmission electron microscopy

Abstract The fatigue behavior of ceramic ZnO nanowires (NWs) has been investigated under resonance cyclic loading conditions using in‐situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM). After mechanical deformation at the resonance frequency at a vibration angle of 5.2° for 35 billion cycles, no failure or any defect generations have been found. We believe that the dislocation‐free nature of NWs and the large surface‐to‐volume ratio contribute to the NWs' ability to undergo deformation without fatigue or fracture, proving their durability and toughness for nanogenerators and nanopiezotronics. magnified image (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)