Thermal mirror buckling in freestanding graphene locally controlled by scanning tunnelling microscopy

Knowledge of and control over the curvature of ripples in freestanding graphene are desirable for fabricating and designing flexible electronic devices, and recent progress in these pursuits has been achieved using several advanced techniques such as scanning tunnelling microscopy. The electrostatic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2014-09, Vol.5 (1), p.4962-4962, Article 4962
Main Authors: Neek-Amal, M., Xu, P., Schoelz, J.K., Ackerman, M.L., Barber, S.D., Thibado, P.M., Sadeghi, A., Peeters, F.M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
142/136
639/301/357/918/1053
Electrons
Graphene
Humanities and Social Sciences
Microscopy
multidisciplinary
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Topography
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Summary:Knowledge of and control over the curvature of ripples in freestanding graphene are desirable for fabricating and designing flexible electronic devices, and recent progress in these pursuits has been achieved using several advanced techniques such as scanning tunnelling microscopy. The electrostatic forces induced through a bias voltage (or gate voltage) were used to manipulate the interaction of freestanding graphene with a tip (substrate). Such forces can cause large movements and sudden changes in curvature through mirror buckling. Here we explore an alternative mechanism, thermal load, to control the curvature of graphene. We demonstrate thermal mirror buckling of graphene by scanning tunnelling microscopy and large-scale molecular dynamic simulations. The negative thermal expansion coefficient of graphene is an essential ingredient in explaining the observed effects. This new control mechanism represents a fundamental advance in understanding the influence of temperature gradients on the dynamics of freestanding graphene and future applications with electro-thermal-mechanical nanodevices. Controlling ripples in freestanding graphene provides an additional tool when fabricating and designing flexible electronic devices. Here, the authors demonstrate that temperature gradients can be used to control such curvature, resulting from a negative thermal expansion coefficient.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/ncomms5962