Mechanics of freely-suspended ultrathin layered materials

TL;DR

This paper reviews the mechanical properties and responses of atomically thin 2D materials, emphasizing their potential for flexible electronics and nanomechanical systems, and discusses future research directions including deformation-electronic coupling.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview and comparison of static and dynamic mechanical responses of various 2D materials, highlighting their unique properties and future research prospects.

Findings

2D materials can sustain large deformations without breaking

High Young's modulus and crystallinity make them suitable for high-frequency resonators

Future research includes coupling mechanical deformation with electronic properties

Abstract

The study of atomically thin two-dimensional materials is a young and rapidly growing field. In the past years, a great advance in the study of the remarkable electrical and optical properties of 2D materials fabricated by exfoliation of bulk layered materials has been achieved. Due to the extraordinary mechanical properties of these atomically thin materials, they also hold a great promise for future applications such as flexible electronics. For example, this family of materials can sustain very large deformations without breaking. Due to the combination of small dimensions, high Young's modulus and high crystallinity of 2D materials, they have attracted the attention of the field of nanomechanical systems as high frequency and high quality factor resonators. In this article, we review experiments on static and dynamic response of 2D materials. We provide an overview and comparison of the mechanics of different materials, and highlight the unique properties of these thin crystalline layers. We conclude with an outlook of the mechanics of 2D materials and future research directions such as the coupling of the mechanical deformation to their electronic structure.