Variant Plateau Law in Atomically Thin Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Dome Networks

Abstract

Since its fundamental inception from soap bubbles, Plateau law has sparked extensive research in equilibrated states. However, most studies primarily relied on liquids, foams or cellular structures, whereas its applicability has yet to be explored in nano-scale solid films. Here, we observed a variant Plateau law in networks of atomically thin domes made of solid two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). Discrete layer-dependent van der Waals (vdWs) interaction energies were experimentally and theoretically obtained for domes protruding in different TMD layers. Significant surface tension differences from layer-dependent vdWs interaction energies manifest in a variant of this fundamental law. Meanwhile, the remarkable mechanical properties, gas impermeability and interlayer vdWs interaction energy of TMD films enable domes and the networks to sustain high gas pressure and exist in a fundamentally variant nature for several years. Our findings pave the way towards exploring variant discretised states with applications in opto-electro-mechanical devices.

References in corpus (12)

• Electric Field Effect in Atomically Thin Carbon Films
• Atomically thin MoS2: A new direct-gap semiconductor
• Two Dimensional Atomic Crystals
• Ultra-strong Adhesion of Graphene Membranes
• Accurate Measurement of the Cleavage Energy of Graphite
• Graphene bubbles on a substrate : Universal shape and van der Waals pressure
• Mechanical Properties of Atomically Thin Tungsten Dichalcogenides: WS${}_2$, WSe${}_2$ and WTe${}_2$
• Effects of Mismatch Strain and Substrate Surface Corrugation on Morphology of Supported Monolayer Graphene
• Adhesion, Stiffness and Instability in Atomically Thin MoS2 Bubbles
• Proton-driven patterning of bulk transition metal dichalcogenides
• Isolating hydrogen in hexagonal boron nitride bubbles by a plasma treatment
• Indentation metrology of clamped, ultra-thin elastic sheets