Tearing Graphene Sheets From Adhesive Substrates Produces Tapered Nanoribbons

Abstract

Graphene is a truly two-dimensional atomic crystal with exceptional electronic and mechanical properties. Whereas conventional bulk and thin-film materials have been studied extensively, the key mechanical properties of graphene, such as tearing and cracking, remain unknown, partly due to its two-dimensional nature and ultimate single-atom-layer thickness, which result in the breakdown of conventional material models. By combining first-principles ReaxFF molecular dynamics and experimental studies, a bottom-up investigation of the tearing of graphene sheets from adhesive substrates is reported, including the observation of the formation of tapered graphene nanoribbons. Through a careful analysis of the underlying molecular rupture mechanisms, it is shown that the resulting nanoribbon geometry is controlled by both the graphene-substrate adhesion energy and by the number of torn graphene layers. By considering graphene as a model material for a broader class of two-dimensional atomic crystals, these results provide fundamental insights into the tearing and cracking mechanisms of highly confined nanomaterials.

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• Reversible mechanical and electrical properties of ripped graphene
• Forced tearing of ductile and brittle thin sheets
• Linking interlayer twist angle to geometrical parameters of self-assembled folded graphene structures
• Finite-distance singularities in the tearing of thin sheets
• Towards nanomechanical models of liquid-phase exfoliation of layered 2D nanomaterials: analysis of a $\pi$-peel model
• Tearing of thin sheets: Cracks interacting through an elastic ridge
• Non-Equilibrium Nature of Fracture Determines the Crack Paths
• Repair of magnetism in oxidized graphene nanoribbons
• Twist Angle-Dependent Bands and Valley Inversion in 2D Materials/hBN Heterostructures
• Critical Peeling of Tethered Nanoribbons
• Crystallographic orientation errors in mechanical exfoliation