Theory of defect dynamics in graphene: defect groupings and their stability

TL;DR

This paper develops a theoretical framework for understanding defect dynamics in graphene, predicting complex defect groupings and analyzing their stability, which aligns with experimental observations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel theoretical approach to characterize complex defect groupings in graphene and determines their stability, extending previous numerical predictions.

Findings

Predicted complex defect groupings of three or four defect pairs

Connected defect groupings to dislocation dipoles

Confirmed stability of these defect configurations

Abstract

We use our theory of periodized discrete elasticity to characterize defects in graphene as the cores of dislocations or groups of dislocations. Earlier numerical implementations of the theory predicted some of the simpler defect groupings observed in subsequent Transmission Electron Microscope experiments. Here we derive the more complicated defect groupings of three or four defect pairs from our theory, show that they correspond to the cores of two pairs of dislocation dipoles and ascertain their stability.