Spontaneous Arched Graphene Under Uniaxial Compression and Bistable Interswitch Behaviors of Single-Layer Graphene

Purpose In this work, we investigate the mechanical bistability properties of single-layer graphene under distributed compressive and uniformly out-of-plane loads. Methodology The stable configurations and transition processes of bistable graphene are numerically studied based on a multi-scale computational framework. In this study, different graphene with opposite boundary completely clamped support and others free are considered. The evolution of stable morphology and bistable phase switch are examined. In addition, small-scale boundary effect is also discussed in detail. Results Our results reveal that the small-scale boundary effect is obvious for small-size graphene under small loads. With the increase of graphene size and loads, the small-scale boundary effect becomes smaller and smaller due to the increasingly dominant structural rigidity when forming the arched graphene. Conclusions The arched stable phase of graphene can be exactly controlled by the applied compressive loads. It is found that the bistable graphene with larger arched amplitude can bear much higher load and store more energy before bistable transition. Moreover, the bistable phase switch of graphene is also sensitive to the graphene size.