The effect of atomic vacancies and grain boundaries on the mechanical properties of single-crystal GaN nanotubes

The effects of structural defects like single atomic vacancies, divacancies and grain boundaries on the mechanical properties of single-crystal GaN nanotubes are investigated. The results have shown that dilute single vacancies and inversion domain grain boundaries in single-crystal GaN nanotubes do not affect the Young modulus of the tubes, but the grain boundary at which the interface is normal to the axis of a nanotube might lower the Young modulus of the single-crystal GaN nanotube.