Adhesionless and near-ideal contact behavior of graphene on Cu thin film

M Hammad and JJ Adjizian and CH Sacre and B Huet and JC Charlier and JP Raskin and T Pardoen, CARBON, 122, 446-450 (2017).

DOI: 10.1016/j.carbon.2017.06.037

Graphene coatings reduce surface adhesion owing to a low surface energy. In the present work, a single CVD-grown graphene layer on Cu is shown to modify the elastic contact behavior by eliminating adhesion. Nanoindentation load-displacement curves exhibit higher load bearing capacity for Cu/graphene in the elastic regime compared to bare Cu and a closer agreement with Hertz law. Molecular dynamics simulations confirm the quasi-absence of adhesion between graphene and indentor tip. These results open new opportunities regarding tribological issues related to coatings or MEMS applications. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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