Buckled graphene for efficient energy harvest, storage and conversion

JW Jiang, NANOTECHNOLOGY, 27, 405402 (2016).

DOI: 10.1088/0957-4484/27/40/405402

Buckling is one of the most common phenomena in atom-thick layered structures like graphene. While the buckling phenomenon usually causes disaster for most nanodevices, we illustrate one positive application of buckled graphene for energy harvest, storage and conversion. More specifically, we perform molecular dynamical simulations to show that buckled graphene can be used to collect wasted mechanical energy and store the energy in the form of internal knotting potential. Through strain engineering, the knotting potential can be converted into useful kinetic (thermal) energy that is highly concentrated at the free edges of buckled graphene. The present study demonstrates potential applications of buckled graphene for converting dispersed wasted mechanical energy into concentrated useful kinetic (thermal) energy.

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