Kirigami, a traditional Japanese art of paper cutting,
has recently
been explored for its elastocaloric effect (ECE) in kirigami-based
materials (KMs), where an applied strain induces temperature changes.
Importantly, the feasibility of a nanoscale graphene kirigami monolayer
was experimentally demonstrated. Here, we investigate the ECE in GK
representing the thinnest possible KM to better understand this phenomenon.
Through molecular dynamics simulations, we analyze the temperature
change and coefficient of performance (COP) of GK. Our findings reveal
that while GKs lack the intricate temperature changes observed in
macroscopic KMs, they exhibit a substantial temperature change of
approximately 9.32 K (23 times higher than that of macroscopic KMs,
which is about 0.4 K) for heating and −3.50 K for cooling.
Furthermore, they demonstrate reasonable COP values of approximately
1.57 and 0.62, respectively. It is noteworthy that the one-atom-thick
graphene configuration prevents the occurrence of the complex temperature
distribution observed in macroscopic KMs.