Casimir pressure in peptide films on metallic substrates: Change of sign via graphene coating

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that adding a graphene sheet to peptide films on metallic substrates can switch the Casimir pressure from repulsive to attractive, potentially improving film stability for organic electronics.

Contribution

The study extends Lifshitz theory to include graphene's electromagnetic response, showing how graphene coating alters Casimir pressure sign in peptide films.

Findings

Graphene coating makes Casimir pressure attractive in peptide films.

Minimum film thickness for attraction decreases with higher chemical potential.

Energy gap and water content influence the Casimir pressure behavior.

Abstract

We find that the Casimir pressure in peptide films deposited on metallic substrates is always repulsive which makes these films less stable. It is shown that by adding a graphene sheet on top of peptide film one can change the sign of the Casimir pressure by making it attractive. For this purpose, the formalism of the Lifshitz theory is extended to the case when the film and substrate materials are described by the frequency-dependent dielectric permittivities, whereas the response of graphene to the electromagnetic field is governed by the polarization tensor in (2+1)-dimensional space-time found in the framework of the Dirac model. Both pristine and gapped and doped graphene sheets are considered possessing some nonzero energy gap and chemical potential. According to our results, in all cases the presence of graphene sheet makes the Casimir pressure in peptide film deposited on a metallic substrate attractive starting from some minimum film thickness. The value of this minimum thickness becomes smaller with increasing chemical potential and larger with increasing energy gap and the fraction of water in peptide film. The physical explanation for these results is provided, and their possible applications in organic electronics are discussed.