Carbon nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs), graphene sheets (GSs), and carbyne, are an important new class of technological materials, and have been proposed as nano-mechanical sensors because of their extremely superior mechanical, thermal, and electrical performance. The present work reviews the recent studies of carbon nanomaterials-based nano-force and nano-mass sensors using mechanical analysis of vibration behavior. The mechanism of the two kinds of frequency-based nano sensors is firstly introduced with mathematical models and expressions. Afterward, the modeling perspective of carbon nanomaterials using continuum mechanical approaches as well as the determination of their material properties matching with their continuum models are concluded. Moreover, we summarize the representative works of CNTs/GSs/carbyne-based nano-mass and nano-force sensors and overview the technology for future challenges. It is hoped that the present review can provide an insight into the application of carbon nanomaterials-based nano-mechanical sensors. Showing remarkable results, carbon nanomaterials-based nano-mass and nano-force sensors perform with a much higher sensitivity than using other traditional materials as resonators, such as silicon and ZnO. Thus, more intensive investigations of carbon nanomaterials-based nano sensors are preferred and expected.
Keywords: carbon nanotubes; carbyne; graphene sheets; nano-force sensor; nano-mass sensor; theoretical analysis; vibration.