Barriers to motion and rotation of graphene layers based on measurements of shear mode frequencies

TL;DR

This paper combines theoretical calculations and experimental data to analyze the energy barriers affecting the motion and rotation of graphene layers, revealing a unified description based on potential energy relief roughness.

Contribution

It introduces a simple Fourier-based model linking various physical phenomena of graphene layers and estimates energy barriers from shear mode frequency measurements.

Findings

Potential energy relief can be described by a single Fourier component.

Physical quantities related to graphene layer motion are interconnected.

Experimental shear mode frequencies can estimate motion and rotation barriers.

Abstract

Both van der Waals corrected density functional theory and classical calculations show that the potential relief of interaction energy between layers of graphite and few-layer graphene can be described by a simple expression containing only the first Fourier components. Thus a set of physical quantities and phenomena associated with in-plane relative vibration, translational motion and rotation of graphene layers are interrelated and are determined by a single parameter characterizing the roughness of the potential energy relief. This relationship is used to estimate the barriers to relative motion and rotation of graphene layers based on experimental measurements of shear mode frequencies.