Graphene folding on flat substrates
Abstract
We present a combined experimental-theoretical study of graphene folding on flat substrates. The structure and deformation of the folded graphene sheet are experimentally characterized by atomic force microscopy. The local graphene folding behaviors are interpreted based on nonlinear continuum mechanics modeling and molecular dynamics simulations. Our study on self-folding of a trilayer graphene sheet reports a bending stiffness of about 6.57 eV, which is about four times the reported values for monolayer graphene. Our results reveal that an intriguing free sliding phenomenon occurs at the interlayer van der Waals interfaces during the graphene folding process. This work demonstrates that it is a plausible venue to quantify the bending stiffness of graphene based on its self-folding conformation on flat substrates. The findings reported in this work are useful to a better understanding of the mechanical properties of graphene and in the pursuit of its applications.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Oct 23, 2014
- Source ID
- 10.1063/1.4898760
Entities
People
- Changhong Ke
- Liuyang Zhang
- Xianqiao Wang
- Xiaoming Chen
- Yadong Zhao
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Binghamton University
- University of Georgia