Stretching graphene using polymeric micro-muscles

Abstract

The control of strain in two-dimensional materials opens exciting perspectives for the engineering of their electronic properties. While this expectation has been validated by artificial-lattice studies, it remains elusive in the case of atomic lattices. Remarkable results were obtained on nanobubbles and nano-wrinkles, or using scanning probes; microscale strain devices were implemented exploiting deformable substrates or external loads. These devices lack, however, the flexibility required to fully control and investigate arbitrary strain profiles. Here, we demonstrate a novel approach making it possible to induce strain in graphene using polymeric micrometric artificial muscles (MAMs) that contract in a controllable and reversible way under an electronic stimulus. Our method exploits the mechanical response of poly-methyl-methacrylate (PMMA) to electron-beam irradiation. Inhomogeneous anisotropic strain and out-of-plane deformation are demonstrated and studied by Raman, scanning-electron and atomic-force microscopy. These can all be easily combined with the present device architecture. The flexibility of the present method opens new opportunities for the investigation of strain and nanomechanics in two-dimensional materials.

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• In-situ strain tuning in hBN-encapsulated graphene electronic devices
• Dynamic local strain in graphene generated by surface acoustic waves
• Probing enhanced electron-phonon coupling in graphene by infrared resonance Raman spectroscopy
• Phase-space representation of Landau and electron coherent states for uniaxially strained graphene
• Local tuning of WS2 photoluminescence using polymeric micro-actuators in a monolithic van der Waals heterostructure
• Strain-engineered wrinkles on graphene using polymeric actuators
• Stress-strain in electron-beam activated polymeric micro-actuators
• Electron localization in periodically strained graphene