Surface effects on the persistence length of nanowires and nanotubes

Surface effects on the persistence length of quasi-one-dimensional nanomaterials are investigated by using the theory of surface elasticity and the core–shell model of nanobeams. A simple and unified expression is provided to determine the persistence length of nanowires and nanotubes with any regular polygonal cross-sections. It is demonstrated that surface effects have a distinct influence on the persistence length when the characteristic sizes of materials shrink to nanometers. This work is helpful not only for understanding the size-dependent behavior of nanomaterials but also for the design of devices based on nanotubes or nanowires.