title: Thermal expansion of supported and freestanding graphene: lattice constant versus interatomic distance.
abstract: By using ab initio molecular dynamics calculations, we show that even where the graphene lattice constant contracts, as previously reported for freestanding graphene below room temperature, the average carbon-carbon distance increases with temperature, in both free and supported graphene. This results in a larger corrugation at higher temperature, which can affect the interaction between graphene and the supporting substrate. For a weakly interacting system as graphene/Ir(111), we confirm the results using an experimental approach which gives direct access to interatomic distances.
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Sciences, TYC@UCL, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pozzo
authors.forename: Dario
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Alfè
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lacovig
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hofmann
authors.forename: Silvano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lizzit
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baraldi