From quantum to continuum mechanics in the delamination of atomically-thin layers from substrates

Hauseux, Paul, Nguyen, Thanh-Tung, Ambrosetti, Alberto, Ruiz, Katerine Saleme, Bordas, Stéphane P. A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8634-7002 and Tkatchenko, Alexandre 2020. From quantum to continuum mechanics in the delamination of atomically-thin layers from substrates. Nature Communications 11 (1) , 1651. 10.1038/s41467-020-15480-w

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Abstract

Anomalous proximity effects have been observed in adhesive systems ranging from proteins, bacteria, and gecko feet suspended over semiconductor surfaces to interfaces between graphene and different substrate materials. In the latter case, long-range forces are evidenced by measurements of non-vanishing stress that extends up to micrometer separations between graphene and the substrate. State-of-the-art models to describe adhesive properties are unable to explain these experimental observations, instead underestimating the measured stress distance range by 2–3 orders of magnitude. Here, we develop an analytical and numerical variational approach that combines continuum mechanics and elasticity with quantum many-body treatment of van der Waals dispersion interactions. A full relaxation of the coupled adsorbate/substrate geometry leads us to conclude that wavelike atomic deformation is largely responsible for the observed long-range proximity effect. The correct description of this seemingly general phenomenon for thin deformable membranes requires a direct coupling between quantum and continuum mechanics.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Engineering Advanced Research Computing @ Cardiff (ARCCA)
Additional Information:	This is an open access article under the terms of the CC-BY Attribution 4.0 International license.
Publisher:	Nature Research
ISSN:	2041-1723
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	4 May 2020
Date of Acceptance:	6 April 2020
Last Modified:	04 May 2023 09:22
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/131434

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