Nonuniform elastic strain and memristive effect in aligned carbon nanotubes

The simulation results of elastic strain of an aligned carbon nanotube under the influence of a local external electric field are reported. A method for inducing controllable nonuniform elastic strain in a vertically aligned carbon nanotube, which is a prerequisite for a reproducible memristive effect in such nanotubes, is developed. The passage of current through elastically strained carbon nanotubes with aspect ratios from 20 to 30 is examined experimentally. It is demonstrated that the resistance of a nanotube with its relative strain changing from 0.02% to 0.07% increases by a factor of 5.2 in the high-resistance state due to an increase in the strength of the internal electric field, thus resulting in a stronger memristive effect.