Some aspects of formation and tribological properties of silver nanodumbbells.

Unlabelled: In this paper, metal nanodumbbells (NDs) formed by laser-induced melting of Ag nanowires (NWs) on an oxidized silicon substrate and their tribological properties are investigated. The mechanism of ND formation is proposed and illustrated with finite element method simulations. Tribological measurements consist in controllable real-time manipulation of NDs inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM) with simultaneous force registration.