Shear Horizontal Surface Waves in a Layered Piezoelectric Nanostructure with Surface Effects

This work aims to provide a fundamental understanding on the dispersive behaviors of shear horizontal (SH) surface waves propagating in a layered piezoelectric nanostructure consisting of an elastic substrate and a piezoelectric nanofilm by considering the surface effects. Theoretical derivation based on the surface piezoelectricity model was conducted for this purpose, and analytic expressions of the dispersion equation under the nonclassical mechanical and electrical boundary conditions were obtained. Numerical solutions were given to investigate the influencing mechanism of surface elasticity, surface piezoelectricity, surface dielectricity, as well as the surface density upon the propagation characteristics of SH surface waves, respectively. The results also reveal the size-dependence of dispersive behaviors, which indicates that the surface effects make a difference only when the thickness of the piezoelectric nanofilm stays in a certain range.