Graphene folding on flat substrates

• Published in: Journal of applied physics 2014-10, Vol.116 (16)
• Main Authors: Chen, Xiaoming, Zhang, Liuyang, Zhao, Yadong, Wang, Xianqiao, Ke, Changhong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied physics; ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY; Computer simulation; Continuum mechanics; Deformation; EV RANGE; FLEXIBILITY; Folding; GRAPHENE; Graphical user interface; Interlayers; Mechanical properties; Molecular dynamics; MOLECULAR DYNAMICS METHOD; NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY; NANOSTRUCTURES; SIMULATION; Stiffness; SUBSTRATES; VAN DER WAALS FORCES
• ISSN: 0021-8979; 1089-7550
• DOI: 10.1063/1.4898760

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.