We present a molecular modeling study analyzing nanometer-scale strain variations in graphene as a function of externally applied tensile strain. We consider two different mechanisms that could underlie nanometer-scale strain variations: static perturbations from lattice imperfections of an underlying substrate and thermal fluctuations. For both cases we observe a decrease in the out-of-plane atomic displacements with increasing strain, which is accompanied by an increase in the in-plane displacements. Reflecting the nonlinear elastic properties of graphene, both trends together yield a nonmonotonic variation of the total displacements with increasing tensile strain. This variation allows us to test the role of nanometer-scale strain variations in limiting the carrier mobility of high-quality graphene samples.
- Received 12 January 2016
- Revised 3 May 2016
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.93.195438
©2016 American Physical Society
