Graphene under direct compression: stress effects and interlayer coupling

TL;DR

This study investigates how stress affects the mechanical properties and interlayer interactions of graphene of different thicknesses using high-pressure Raman spectroscopy, highlighting substrate influence and disorder effects.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the stress response of graphene and the role of substrate and disorder, using a combined high-pressure and spectroscopic approach.

Findings

Substrate significantly influences graphene's mechanical response.

Disorder has minimal impact on high-stress behavior.

Raman G band shifts reveal stress effects on graphene.

Abstract

In this work we explore mechanical properties of graphene samples of variable thickness. For this purpose, we coupled a high pressure sapphire anvil cell to a micro-Raman spectrometer. From the evolution of the G band frequency with stress we document the importance the substrate has on the mechanical response of graphene. On the other hand, the appearance of disorder as a conse-quence of the stress treatment has a negligible effect on the high stress behaviour of graphene.