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Nanoscale, 2014,6, 6030-6036.
Z. Osváth,*ac E. Gergely-Fülöp,a N. Nagy,a A. Deák,a P. Nemes-Incze,ac X. Jin,bc C. Hwangbc ,L. P. Biróac
a – Institute of Technical Physics and Materials Science, MFA, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, HAS, , P.O. Box 49, 1525 Budapest, Hungary and
b – Center for Nano-metrology, Division of Industrial Metrology, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Yuseong, Republic of Korea and
c – Korea-Hungary Joint Laboratory for Nanosciences (KHJLN), , P.O. Box 49, 1525 Budapest, Hungary.
Abstract
The electronic properties of graphene can be significantly influenced by mechanical strain. One practical approach to induce strain in graphene is to transfer atomically thin membranes onto pre-patterned substrates with specific corrugations. The possibility of using nanoparticles to impart extrinsic rippling to graphene has not been fully explored yet. Here we study the structure and elastic properties of graphene grown by chemical vapour deposition and transferred onto a continuous layer of SiO2 nanoparticles with diameters of around 25 nm, prepared on a Si substrate by the Langmuir–Blodgett technique. We show that the corrugation of the transferred graphene, and thus the membrane strain, can be modified by annealing at moderate temperatures. The membrane parts bridging the nanoparticles are suspended and can be reversibly lifted by the attractive forces between an atomic force microscope tip and graphene. This allows the dynamic control of the local morphology of graphene nanomembranes.
Significance Statement:
Corrugated graphene can be a good candidate for sensor applications due to enhanced chemical activity in ripples. We present a method for the preparation of large areas of rippled graphene.
Figure legend:
Atomic force microscopic image of rippled graphene (lower part) lying on top of silica nanoparticles (upper part). As a guide for the eyes, the edge of graphene membrane was emphasized with white line.
