title: Thermal mirror buckling in freestanding graphene locally controlled by scanning tunnelling microscopy.
abstract: Knowledge of and control over the curvature of ripples in freestanding graphene are desirable for fabricating and designing flexible electronic devices, and recent progress in these pursuits has been achieved using several advanced techniques such as scanning tunnelling microscopy. The electrostatic forces induced through a bias voltage (or gate voltage) were used to manipulate the interaction of freestanding graphene with a tip (substrate). Such forces can cause large movements and sudden changes in curvature through mirror buckling. Here we explore an alternative mechanism, thermal load, to control the curvature of graphene. We demonstrate thermal mirror buckling of graphene by scanning tunnelling microscopy and large-scale molecular dynamic simulations. The negative thermal expansion coefficient of graphene is an essential ingredient in explaining the observed effects. This new control mechanism represents a fundamental advance in understanding the influence of temperature gradients on the dynamics of freestanding graphene and future applications with electro-thermal-mechanical nanodevices.
authors.affiliation: 1] Departement Fysica, Universiteit Antwerpen, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerpen, Belgium [2] Department of Physics, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Lavizan, Tehran 16788, Iran.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Neek-Amal
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Physics, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701, USA [2] Laboratory for Physical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20740, USA.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701, USA.
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Schoelz
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701, USA.
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Ackerman
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701, USA.
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Barber
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701, USA.
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Thibado
authors.affiliation: Departement Physik, Universität Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 82, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sadeghi
authors.affiliation: Departement Fysica, Universiteit Antwerpen, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerpen, Belgium.
authors.forename: F M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Peeters