Stability of asymmetric grain boundaries in graphene

Abstract

In the field of electronics, due to its excellent mechanical and electrical properties, graphene has become the most promising material for the production of next generation thin and flexible graphene-based electronic components. In this work, we present an assessment of the thermal stability and dynamics of asymmetric grain boundaries in graphene for different misorientation angles at finite temperature and up to extremely high temperatures. In particular, we have focused on configurations with misorientation angle of 16.1◦ , 30◦ and 38.2◦ . In contrast to pristine defect-free graphene, which has no band-gap and therefore is of limited use for semiconductor-based electronics, it has been shown theoretically that line defects in graphene might insert transport gaps, opening up the possibility of device applications based on the structural engineering of graphene boundaries.