1201.5667 (Mahito Yamamoto et al.)

Princess and the Pea at the nanoscale: Wrinkling and unbinding of
graphene on nanoparticles    [PDF]

Mahito Yamamoto, Olivier Pierre-Louis, Jia Huang, Michael S. Fuhrer, T. L. Einstein, William G. Cullen

Thin membranes exhibit complex responses to external forces or geometrical
constraints. A familiar example is the wrinkling instability, exhibited by
human skin, plant leaves, and fabrics, resulting from the relative ease of
bending versus stretching. Here, we study the wrinkling of graphene, the
thinnest and stiffest known membrane, deposited on a silica substrate decorated
with silica nanoparticles. At small nanoparticle density monolayer graphene
adheres to the substrate, elastically stretching to form a detachment zone
around each nanoparticle. With increasing particle density, elastic stretching
energy is reduced by the formation of wrinkles which connect particles. Above a
critical nanoparticle density, the wrinkles form a percolating network through
the sample. As the graphene membrane is made thicker, delamination from the
substrate is observed. Results can be well understood within a continuum
elastic model and have important implications for strain engineering the
electronic properties of graphene.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1201.5667