THE FLEXOELECTRIC EFFECT OF NANOBEAM BASED ON A REFORMULATED STRAIN GRADIENT ELASTICITY

To accurately predict the flexoelectric response of nanobeam-based energy harvesting, a reformulated strain gradient elasticity theory is employed to derive an electromechanical model of nanobeam. Three independent material length scale parameters are incorporated to capture the size effect. The governing equation and boundary conditions are derived by applying the Hamilton principle for the simply supported beam. The closed-form analytical solutions to the bending response with mechanical and electric loads applied are obtained. The results show that the strain gradient elasticity can decrease the transverse displacement of the simply supported beam and significantly reduce the energy efficiency. Therefore, the strain gradient elasticity shouldn't be ignored when studying the flexoelectric responses of nanoscale structures.