In April 2016 Manchester eScholar was replaced by the University of Manchester’s new Research Information Management System, Pure. In the autumn the University’s research outputs will be available to search and browse via a new Research Portal. Until then the University’s full publication record can be accessed via a temporary portal and the old eScholar content is available to search and browse via this archive.

Macroscopic Graphene Membranes and Their Extraordinary Stiffness

T. J. Booth, P. Blake, R. R. Nair, D. Jiang, E. W. Hill, U. Bangert, A. Bleloch, M. Gass, K. S. Novoselov, M. I. Katsnelson, A. K. Geim.

Nano Letters. 2008;8(8):2442-2446.

Access to files

Abstract

The properties of suspended graphene are currently attracting enormous interest, but the small size of available samples and the difficulties in making them severely restrict the number of experimental techniques that can be used to study the optical, mechanical, electronic, thermal, and other characteristics of this one-atom-thick material. Here, we describe a new and highly reliable approach for making graphene membranes of a macroscopic size (currently up to 100 μm in diameter) and their characterization by transmission electron microscopy. In particular, we have found that long graphene beams supported by only one side do not scroll or fold, in striking contrast to the current perception of graphene as a supple thin fabric, but demonstrate sufficient stiffness to support extremely large loads, millions of times exceeding their own weight, in agreement with the presented theory. Our work opens many avenues for studying suspended graphene and using it in various micromechanical systems and electron microscopy.

Bibliographic metadata

Type of resource:
Content type:
Publication type:
Publication form:
Published date:
Journal title:
ISSN:
Volume:
8
Issue:
8
Start page:
2442
End page:
2446
Total:
5
Digital Object Identifier:
10.1021/nl801412y
Access state:
Active

Institutional metadata

University researcher(s):

Record metadata

Manchester eScholar ID:
uk-ac-man-scw:14902
Created by:
Geim, Andre
Created:
24th September, 2009, 13:59:55
Last modified by:
Taylor, Scott
Last modified:
29th November, 2013, 11:52:25

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