Strain-Induced Curvature in Monolayer Graphene: Effects on Electronic Structure, Phonon Dynamics, and Lattice Thermal Conductivity

TL;DR

This study investigates how strain-induced curvature in monolayer graphene alters its electronic, phononic, and thermal properties, enabling tunable thermal conductivity and potential thermoelectric applications.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive computational analysis of how topological curvature affects graphene's electronic structure, phonon dynamics, and thermal conductivity under strain.

Findings

Curvature stabilizes the graphene system energetically.

Electronic density of states shows Van Hove singularities approaching the Fermi level with increased curvature.

Lattice thermal conductivity decreases due to enhanced phonon scattering from strain-induced curvature.

Abstract

We present a comprehensive set of calculations to investigate the effect of strain-induced x-y topological perturbation in the monolayer graphene sheet. We show that the induced curvature with the defined strain constraint, energetically stabilizes the systems. The electronic properties are modified when the amplitude of the curvature of the sheet increases, which induces Van Hove singularities of the electronic Density of States to approach the Fermi energy. The highly curved system exhibits coexisting flat and linear dispersions close to the Fermi level, which is a promising feature for thermoelectric applications. We also demonstrate, through the phonon dispersion curves, that respective systems are dynamically stable within the studied range of strains/curvatures. Moreover, the flexural acoustic mode transitions from quadratic to linear dispersion under strain, mimicking the 3D behavior and enhancing phonon scattering. The increase of phonon scattering will therefore decrease the value of the lattice thermal conductivity, $\kappa_L$. Such results allows us to conclude that it is possible to tune $\kappa_L$ by applying x-y strain to the monolayer sheet, and inducing different topological curvatures.