Postbuckling of piezoelectric nanobeams with surface effects

Surface effects, including surface elasticity, surface piezoelectricity and residual surface stress, on the postbuckling of piezoelectric nanobeams due to an electric field are investigated using an energy method in this paper. The critical buckling voltage and amplitude are obtained analytically in terms of the bulk and surface material properties and geometric parameters. The results show that surface effects play a significant role in the postbuckling of piezoelectric nanobeams. It is found that the influences of surface piezoelectricity and residual surface stress are more prominent than the surface elasticity. These results might be helpful for designing piezoelectric nanobeam-based devices.