Mechanism of fracture of surface contact area during atomic-scale peeling of graphene sheet

Phil Alexander Lozen, Naruo Sasaki
2019 Abstract book of Annual Meeting of the Japan Society of Vacuum and Surface Science  
Graphene is a highly promising material as a nanodevice due to its electrical properties and elastic deformation which enable control of various material properties. However, nanodevices are subject to 10 7 times more friction effect as compared to that of macrodevices. For this reason, peeling mechanics of graphene sheet needs to be studied in order to understand the mechanism of friction, the main reason of wear in nanodevices. In previous studies, the atomic-scale peeling of graphene
more » ... onto the graphite surface, were performed, focusing on its sliding and deformation during the process [1-2] . Hence, the elementary peeling process of the graphene sheet has yet to be clarified. Therefore, we numerically studied the mechanism of fracture of the surface contact area of the graphene/graphene interface using molecular mechanics simulation. The graphene sheet was regarded as a series of carbon atomic arrays. The four nearest neighboring arrays of the carbon atom within the graphene sheet showed quasiperiodic behavior (fig). This periodic behavior was observed during the surface contact area of the peeling process, where we investigated how the elastic energy and interaction energy changes influenced the peeling process and discrete slips. The correlation between the discrete changes of potentials and the periodic discrete slips between the neighboring metastable sites was revealed. Similar peeling features were obtained for various sizes of rectangular graphene sheet. In nano-scale science, the clarification of the elementary peeling process of the graphene sheet could enhance the understanding of the physical origin of friction, lubrication and wear in nanodevices. References 1) N.
doi:10.14886/jvss.2019.0_2p08s fatcat:xjlyyi62craf7pe4olbxt2w4za