Engineering patterns of wrinkles and bubbles in supported graphene through modeling and simulation

• Autores: Kuan Zhang
• Directores de la Tesis: Marino Arroyo Balaguer (dir. tes.)
• Lectura: En la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) ( España ) en 2015
• Idioma: inglés
• Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Basile Audoly (presid.) , Antonio Rodríguez Ferran (secret.) , Riccardo Rurali (voc.)
• Enlaces
  • Tesis en acceso abierto en: TDX
• Resumen

  • Graphene deposited on a substrate often exhibits out-of-plane deformations with different features and origins. Networks of localized wrinkles have been observed in graphene synthesized through CVD, as a result of compressive stresses transmitted by the substrate. Graphene blisters have been reported with various sizes and shapes, and have been shown to be caused by gas trapped between graphene and substrate. Such wrinkles or bubbles locally modify the electronic properties and are often seen as defects. It has been also suggested that the strong coupling between localized deformation and electronic structure can be potentially harnessed in technology by strain engineering, although it has not been possible to precisely control the geometry of out-of-plane deformations, partly due to an insufficent theoretical understanding of the underlying mechanism, particularly under biaxial strains. The specific contributions of the thesis are outlined next. Firstly, we study the emergence of spontaneous wrinkling in supported and laterally strained graphene with high-fidelity simulations based on an atomistically informed continuum model. With a simpler theoretical model, we characterize the onset of buckling and the nonlinear behavior after the instability in terms of the adhesion and frictional material parameters of the graphene-substrate interface. We find that a distributed rippling linear instability transits to localized wrinkles due to the nonlinearity in the van der Waals graphene-substrate interactions. We identify friction as a selection mechanism for the separation between wrinkles, because the formation of far apart wrinkles is penalized by the work of friction. Secondly, we examine the mechanics of wrinkling in supported graphene upon biaxial strains. With realistic simulations and an energetic analysis, we understand how strain anisotropy, adhesion and friction govern spontaneous wrinkling. We then propose a strategy to control the location of wrinkles through patterns of weaker adhesion. These mechanically self-assembled networks are stable under the pressure produced by an enclosed fluid and form continuous channels, opening the door to nano-fluidic applications. Finally, we examine the coexistence of wrinkles and blisters in supported graphene. By changing the applied strain and gas mass trapped beneath the graphene sample, we build a morphological diagram determining the size and shape of graphene bubbles, and their coexistence with wrinkles. As a whole, the research described above depicts a systematic and broad understanding of out-of-plane deformations in monolayer graphene on a substrate, and could be a theoretical foundation towards strain engineering in supported graphene.