Electromechanical instability of nanobridge in ionic liquid electrolyte media: influence of electrical double layer, dispersion forces and size effect

In this paper, the electromechanical response and instability of the nanobridge immersed in ionic electrolyte media is investigated. The electrochemical force field is determined using double-layer theory and linearized Poisson–Boltzmann equation. The presence of dispersion forces, i.e., Casimir and van der Waals attractions are incorporated considering the correction due to the presence of liquid media between the interacting surfaces (three-layer model). The strain gradient elasticity is employed to model the size-dependent structural behavior of the nanobridge. To solve the nonlinear constitutive equation of the system, three approaches, e.g., the Rayleigh–Ritz method, Lumped parameter model and the numerical solution method are employed. Impacts of the dispersion forces and size effect on the instability characteristics as well as the effects of ion concentration and potential ratio are discussed.