Related papers: Defects induce phase transition from dynamic to st…
The simultaneous effect of both disorder and crystal-lattice pinning on the equilibrium behavior of oriented elastic objects is studied using scaling arguments and a functional renormalization group technique. Our analysis applies to…
Active matter is naturally out of equilibrium which results in the emergence of diverse dynamic steady states, including the omnipresent chaotic state known as the active turbulence. However, much less is known how active systems…
Defects in solid commonly limit mechanical performance of the material. However, recent measurements reported that the extraordinarily high strength of graphene is almost retained with the presence of grain boundaries. We clarify in this…
The presence of wrinkles in Graphene Nanoribbons (GNR) and other two-dimensional (2D) materials significantly alter their mechanical, electronic, optical properties, which can be either beneficial or detrimental. Experimentally, it has been…
Understanding the magnetic properties of graphenic nanostructures is instrumental in future spintronics applications. These magnetic properties are known to depend crucially on the presence of defects. Here we review our recent theoretical…
Spatial diffusion of particles in periodic potential models has provided a good framework for studying the role of chaos in global properties of classical systems. Here a bidimensional "soft" billiard, classically modeled from an optical…
We have studied theoretically, using density functional theory, several materials properties when going from one C layer in graphene to two and three g raphene layers and on to graphite. The properties we have focused on are the elastic…
Understanding elementary mechanisms behind solid-state phase transformations and reactions is the key to optimizing desired functional properties of many technologically relevant materials. Recent advances in scanning transmission electron…
The link between changes in the material crystal structure and its mechanical, electronic, magnetic, and optical functionalities - known as the structure-property relationship - is the cornerstone of the contemporary materials science…
Defects and impurities strongly affect the timing and the character of the (re)ordering or disordering transitions of thermodynamic systems captured in metastable states. In this paper we analyze the case of two-dimensional magnetic…
The extreme electro-optical contrast between crystalline and amorphous states in phase change materials is routinely exploited in optical data storage and future applications include universal memories, flexible displays, reconfigurable…
The recent discovery of graphene has sparked significant interest, which has so far been focused on the peculiar electronic structure of this material, in which charge carriers mimic massless relativistic particle. However, the structure of…
Cracks, the major vehicle for material failure, tend to accelerate to high velocities in brittle materials. In three-dimensions, cracks generically undergo a micro-branching instability at about 40% of their sonic limiting velocity. Recent…
This review presents the state of the art in strain and ripple-induced effects on the electronic and optical properties of graphene. It starts by providing the crystallographic description of mechanical deformations, as well as the…
The mechanical integrity of composite materials depends primarily on the interface strength and the defect density of the reinforcement which is the provider of enhanced strength and stiffness. In the case of graphene/ polymer…
The amount of rippling in graphene sheets is related to the interactions with the substrate or with the suspending structure. Here, we report on an irreversibility in the response to forces that act on suspended graphene sheets. This may…
One of the enticing features common to most of the two-dimensional electronic systems that are currently at the forefront of materials science research is the ability to easily introduce a combination of planar deformations and bending in…
Graphite is one of the most chemically inert materials. Its elementary constituent, monolayer graphene, is generally expected to inherit most of the parent material's properties including chemical inertness. Here we show that, unlike…
The growing library of two-dimensional layered materials is providing researchers with a wealth of opportunity to explore and tune physical phenomena at the nanoscale. Here, we review the experimental and theoretical state-of-art concerning…
The understanding of the structural and thermal properties of membranes, low-dimensional flexible systems in a space of higher dimension, is pursued in many fields from string theory to chemistry and biology. The case of a two-dimensional…