graphene

Graphene edges, analogous to the structure of nanotubes, can significantly influence the overall electronic and magnetic properties of graphene nanostructures, and thus have become important issues in graphene research, especially for electronic applications. In this recent paper published on PRL, we reported that the free folding of suspended graphene sheets by random mechanical stimulation has preferred folding directions.

In a previous work, substrate-modulated morphology of graphene was analyzed using a numerical Monte Carlo method. Here we present an analytical approach that explicitly relates the van der Waals interaction energy to the surface corrugation and the interfacial properties. Moreover, the effect of mismatch strain is considered, which predicts a strain-induced instability under a compressive strain and reduced corrugation under a tensile strain.

T. Li, Z. Zhang, Snap-through instability of graphene on substrates, Nanoscale Research Letters,DOI: 10.1007/s11671-009-9460-1 (2009). (Open access)

Q. Lu and R. Huang, Excess energy and deformation along free edges of graphene nanoribbons. Posted online at arXiv:0910.0912, October 2009.

PNAS 106, 10103 (2009), doi:10.1073/pnas.0905193106, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPJBalMZ824&feature=channel_page,    http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=11108.php