Recent advances in nanotechnology have led to the development ofnano-electro-mechanical systems (NEMS) such as nanomechanical resonators, whichhave recently received significant attention from the scientific community.This has not only been for their capability for the label-free detection ofbio/chemical-molecules at single-molecule (or atomic) resolution for futureapplications such as the early diagnostics of diseases such as cancer, but alsofor their unprecedented ability to detect physical quantities such as molecularweight, elastic stiffness, surface stress, and surface elastic stiffness foradsorbed molecules on the surface. Most experimental works on resonator-basedmolecular detection have been based on the principle that molecular adsorptiononto a resonator surface increases the effective mass, and consequentlydecreases the resonant frequencies of the nanomechanical resonator. However,this principle is insufficient to provide fundamental insights intoresonator-based molecular detection at the nanoscale; this is due to recentlyproposed novel nanoscale detection principles including various effects such assurface effects, nonlinear oscillations, coupled resonance, and stiffnesseffects. Therefore, our objective in this review is to overview the currentattempts to understand the underlying mechanisms in nanoresonator-baseddetection using physical models coupled to computational simulations and/orexperiments. Specifically, we will focus on issues of special relevance to thedynamic behavior of nanoresonators and their applications inbiological/chemical detection. We additionally provide extensive discussionregarding potentially fruitful future research directions coupling experimentsand simulations in order to develop a fundamental understanding of the basicphysical principles that govern NEMS and NEMS-based sensing applications.
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