A survey of interlayer interaction models for graphene and other 2D materials

TL;DR

This survey reviews various mechanical models of van der Waals interactions in 2D materials like graphene, covering atomistic and continuum approaches, and discusses their implications for physical phenomena and computational strategies.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive comparison of contact models for 2D materials, highlighting strategies to reduce computational costs in multiscale simulations.

Findings

Normal and tangential contact models are analyzed.

External loading and scale effects influence contact behavior.

Strategies for computational efficiency are discussed.

Abstract

This work presents a survey of mechanical models describing van der Waals interactions between 2D materials, encompassing both continuous elastomer-like materials and discrete (crystalline) 2D materials such as graphene. These interactions give rise to a range of physical phenomena, including contact instabilities, Moir\'e patterns, surface reconstructions, and superlubricity. The underlying contact forces follow from the variation of an interfacial interaction potential. The presentation first discusses normal contact models, and then tangential contact models. Both atomistic and continuum approaches are considered. In addition, the influence of external loading and changes in length scale on the ground state configuration and frictional contact behavior are analyzed. A particular emphasis is placed on discussing strategies that reduce computational cost in multiscale modeling.