Modification of mechanical properties of vertical graphene sheets via fluorination

作者：Davami Keivan^*; Jiang Yijie; Lin Chen; Cortes John; Robinson Jeremy T; Turner Kevin T; Bargatin Igor^*

来源：RSC Advances, 2016, 6(14): 11161-11166.

DOI：10.1039/c5ra25068d

We report systematically tuning the mechanical properties of vertical graphene (VG) sheets through fluorination. VG sheets were synthesized using a radio-frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (RF-PECVD) technique and were functionalized through exposure to xenon difluoride (XeF2) gas. An atomic force microscopy technique, PeakForce Quantitative Nanomechanical Mapping (QNM (R)), was used to measure the mechanical properties of the VG sheets. We show that fluorination can significantly enhance the reduced modulus of surfaces comprised of VG sheets. Samples with only similar to 3.5% fluorine had a reduced modulus approximately eight times higher than unfunctionalized VG sheets, which is attributed to sp(2) to sp(3) conversion and a change of the C-C bond length after functionalization. Fluorination also decreased the energy dissipation of the VG sheets and reduced their adhesion to the AFM tip. This method represents a unique approach towards modification of the mechanical properties of nanostructures without a significant increase in weight or change of the VG sheet morphology.

• 出版日期2016