Elastocaloric Effect in Graphene Kirigami.

Kirigami, a traditional Japanese art of paper cutting, has recently been explored for its elastocaloric effect (ECE) in kirigami-based materials (KMs), where an applied strain induces temperature changes. Importantly, the feasibility of a nanoscale graphene kirigami monolayer was experimentally demonstrated. Here, we investigate the ECE in GK representing the thinnest possible KM to better understand this phenomenon. Through molecular dynamics simulations, we analyze the temperature change and coefficient of performance (COP) of GK. Our findings reveal that while GKs lack the intricate temperature changes observed in macroscopic KMs, they exhibit a substantial temperature change of approximately 9.32 K (23 times higher than that of macroscopic KMs, which is about 0.4 K) for heating and -3.50 K for cooling. Furthermore, they demonstrate reasonable COP values of approximately 1.57 and 0.62, respectively. It is noteworthy that the one-atom-thick graphene configuration prevents the occurrence of the complex temperature distribution observed in macroscopic KMs.

Kirigami Engineering of Suspended Graphene Transducers.

The low mass density and high mechanical strength of graphene make it an attractive candidate for suspended-membrane energy transducers. Typically, the membrane size dictates the operational frequency and bandwidth. However, in many cases it would be desirable to both lower the resonance frequency and increase the bandwidth, while maintaining overall membrane size. We employ focused ion beam milling or laser ablation to create kirigami-like modification of suspended pure-graphene membranes ranging in size from microns to millimeters. Kirigami engineering successfully reduces the resonant frequency, increases the displacement amplitude, and broadens the effective bandwidth of the transducer. Our results present a promising route to miniaturized wide-band energy transducers with enhanced operational parameter range and efficiency.

Failure mechanism of graphene kirigami under nanoindentation.

Though graphene is the strongest material in nature, its intrinsic brittleness hinders its applications where flexibility is the key figure of merits. In this work, we report the enhanced flexibility of graphene under nanoindentation by using kirigami technique. Based on molecular dynamics simulations, we find that graphene kirigami designed at the optimal cut parameter can sustain more than 45% larger out-of-plane deformation than its pristine counterpart while the maximum impact load is reduced by 20% due to the flexible cut edges. This trade-off between flexibility and strength in a graphene kirigami can be overcome by adding a pristine graphene as a supporting substrate. This double-layer structure consisting of one graphene kirigami and one pristine graphene can stand the maximum impact load three times larger than the single-layer graphene kirigami but its maximum indentation depth is merely 8% smaller. Our simulation results provide useful insights into the failure mechanism of the graphene kirigami under nanoindentation and useful guidelines to enhancing the flexibility of graphene for its applications as protection materials.

Study on the Shear Behaviour and Fracture Characteristic of Graphene Kirigami Membranes via Molecular Dynamics Simulation.

In this study, we aimed to provide systematic and critical research to investigate the shear performance and reveal the corresponding structural response and fracture characteristics of the monolayer GK membrane. The results demonstrate that the kirigami structure significant alters the shear performance of graphene-based sheets. Tuning the porosity by controlling the incision size, pore distribution, and incision direction can effectively adjust the shear strength and elastic modulus of GK membranes. The trade-off of the stress and strain of the GK membrane is critical to its shear behaviour. The microstructural damage processes and failure characteristics further reveal that making more carbon atoms on the GK structure sharing the strain energy is the key to reinforcing the shear performance of membranes. Based on this, we found that adding the shear loading in the direction of perpendicular to the incisions on the GK membrane can significantly improve the shear strength and stiffness of the membrane by 26.2-32.1% and 50.2-75.3% compared to applying shear force parallel to GK incisions. This research not only broadens the understanding of shear properties of monolayer GO membrane but also provides more reference on the fracture characteristics of GK membranes for future manufacturing and applications.

Anomalous Thermal Response of Graphene Kirigami Induced by Tailored Shape to Uniaxial Tensile Strain: A Molecular Dynamics Study.

The mechanical and thermal properties of graphene kirigami are strongly dependent on the tailoring structures. Here, thermal conductivity of three typical graphene kirigami structures, including square kirigami graphene, reentrant hexagonal honeycomb structure, and quadrilateral star structure under uniaxial strain are explored using molecular dynamics simulations. We find that the structural deformation of graphene kirigami is sensitive to its tailoring geometry. It influences thermal conductivity of graphene by changing heat flux scattering, heat path, and cross-section area. It is found that the factor of cross-section area can lead to four times difference of thermal conductivity in the large deformation system. Our results are elucidated based on analysis of micro-heat flux, geometry deformation, and atomic lattice deformation. These insights enable us to design of more efficient thermal management devices with elaborated graphene kirigami materials.

van der Waals Graphene Kirigami Heterostructure for Strain-Controlled Thermal Transparency.

Programming thermal transport across interfaces by engineering strain is of critical importance for exploring mechanical controllable and thermal manageable devices with multifunctionalities. Here, we report a van der Waals heterostructure that is composed of bilayer graphene kirigami with diverse layer cut patterns and assembly organizations and show that the thermal flow intensity across the van der Waals interfaces, named as thermal transparency, could be continuously regulated by applying an external in-plane tensile strain. The density of atomic interactions across the interfaces and the distribution of delocalized phonon modes in each graphene kirigami are elucidated to understand the underlying thermal transport mechanism and are also incorporated into a theoretical model for quantitative predictions of thermal conductance under mechanical strain. A proof-of-conceptual van der Waals graphene kirigami heterostructure by design is proposed and validated through extensive full-scale atomistic simulations on the feasibility and reliability of regulating the transparency ratio of thermal transport by mechanical strain, demonstrating its potential applications in thermal and electronic devices.