Friction and adhesion of different structural defects of graphene

Graphene structural defects, namely edges, step-edges and wrinkles are susceptible to severe mechanical deformation and stresses under frictional operations. Applied forces cause deformation by folding, buckling, bending and tearing the defective sites of graphene, which lead to a remarkable decline in normal load and friction bearing capacity. In this work, we experimentally quantified the maximal normal and friction forces corresponding to the damage thresholds of the different investigated defects as well as their pull-out (adhesion) forces. Horizontal wrinkles (with respect to the basal plane, i.e. folded) sustained the highest normal load, up to 317 nN, during sliding, whereas for vertical (i.e. standing collapsed) wrinkles, step-edges and edges, the load bearing capacities are up to 113 nN, 74 nN and 63±5 nN, respectively. The related deformation mechanisms were also experimentally investigated by varying the normal load up to the initiation of the damage from the investigated defects and extended with the numerical results from Molecular Dynamics and Finite Element Method simulations.