Confining Crack Propagation in Defective Graphene

Abstract

Crack propagation in graphene is essential to understand mechanical failure in 2D materials. We report a systematic study of crack propagation in graphene as a function of defect content. Nanoindentations and subsequent images of graphene membranes with controlled induced defects show that while tears in pristine graphene span microns length, crack propagation is strongly reduced in the presence of defects. Accordingly, graphene oxide exhibits minor crack propagation. Our work suggests controlled defect creation as an approach to avoid catastrophic failure in graphene.

Elastic properties of van der Waals epitaxy grown bismuth telluride 2D nanosheets

“…29,30 , and yet show remarkable, robust elastic behaviors. 40 Without crystal defects, theoretically calculated moduli of graphene and boron nitride monolayers are comparable to their bulk counterparts, 41 which is indeed consistent with the experimental work on pristine graphene. Similar reductions of Young's modulus were also observed in defective monolayer graphene sheets ‫ܧ(‬ increases first then decreases with the defect density) 39 and defective 2~5 layered boron nitride 2D nanosheets.…”

Thickness-dependent Crack Propagation in Uniaxially Strained Conducting Graphene Oxide Films on Flexible Substrates

“…Interestingly, when compared to pristine graphene, defected graphene was found to be more resistant to crack propagation, since the defects make the cracking process energetically less favorable 18 . Graphene oxide (GO) a chemically modified form of graphene, contains structural defects in the form of oxygen functional groups especially hydroxyls and epoxides which determine the crack formation and propagation 19 and also the relative concentration of these groups controls mechanical failure of GO 20 .…”

When is 6 less than 5? Penta- to hexa-graphene transition

“…These defects are typically grain boundaries, in the form of (5,7)-defects to vary crystallographic orientation. Indeed, crack propagation is strongly reduced in the presence of such defects [53]. From this perspective, penta-graphene can be considered as an extreme case of "defective" graphene [46], which can be removed by mechanical work (e.g., similar to strain hardening) or thermal treatment (e.g., similar to annealing) to attain the phase transition.…”