2014/09/17 by M. Neek-Amal, Peng Xu, P. Xu +8
Chemistry · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Biasing #Buckling #Composite material #Curvature #Fullerene Chemistry and Applications #Geometry #Graphene #Graphene research and applications #Materials science #Nanotechnology #Optics #Optoelectronics #Physics #Quantum tunnelling #Scanning probe microscopy #Scanning tunneling microscope #Substrate (aquarium) #Thermal #Thermal properties of materials #Voltage #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/ncomms5962
published as Nature Communications 5, 4962 (2014) · 25 pages, 5 figures
openalex publication_date 2014/09/17 · arxiv created 2014/12/29 · arxiv updated 2015/06/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
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 tunneling 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 tunneling 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.