Viscosity of a nanoconfined liquid during compression

The viscous behavior of liquids under nanoconfinement is not well understood. Using a small-amplitude atomic force microscope, we found bulk-like viscosity in a nanoconfined, weakly interacting liquid. A further decrease in viscosity was observed at confinement sizes of a just few molecular layers. Overlaid over the continuum viscous behavior, we measured non-continuum stiffness and damping oscillations. The average stiffness of the confined liquid was found to scale linearly with the size of the confining tip, while the damping scales with the radius of curvature of the tip end.