Thermoelastic damping of nanobeams by considering the size effects of nanostructure and heat conduction is studied herein. The size effect of nanostructure is investigated based on Euler–Bernoulli beam assumptions in the framework of nonlocal strain gradient elasticity, and the size dependence of heat conduction is taken into account by incorporating phase-lagging and nonlocal effects. Closed-form solutions of thermoelastic damping and quality factor characterized by thermoelastic coupling are derived. Graphene nanoribbon is chosen as a nanobeam. The effects of relaxation time, aspect ratio, elastic modulus, thermal expansion, and thermal conductivity on quality factor of graphene nanobeams are discussed in detail.

Hybrid structure of graphene sheets supported by carbon nanotubes (CNTs) sustains unique properties of both graphene and CNTs, which enables the utilization of advantages of the two novel materials. In this work, the capability of three-dimensional pillared graphene structure used as nanomechanical sensors is investigated by performing molecular dynamics simulations. The obtained results demonstrate that: (a) the mass sensitivity of the pillared graphene structure is ultrahigh and can reach at least 1 yg (10⁻²⁴ g) with a mass responsivity 0.34 GHz · yg⁻¹; (b) the sizes of pillared graphene structure, particularly the distance between carbon nanotube pillars, have a significant effect on the sensing performance; (c) an analytical expression can be derived to detect the deposited mass from the resonant frequency of the pillared graphene structure. The performed analyses might be significant to future design and application of pillared graphene based sensors with high sensitivity and large detecting area.