Revealing Mechanical Strength of Nanopores Using Atomic Finite Element Techniques

Abstract

Graphene nanopore has been widely employed in nanofilter or nanopore devices due to its outstanding properties. The understanding of its mechanical properties at nanoscale is crucial for device improvement. In this work, the mechanical properties of graphene nanopore is thus investigated using atomistic finite element method (AFEM). Four graphene models with different pore shapes (circular (CR), horizontal rectangle (RH), and vertical rectangle (RV)) in sub-nm size which could be successfully fabricated experimentally have been studied here. The force normal to a pore surface is applied to mimic the impact force due to a fluid flow. Increasing pore size results in the reduction in its strength. Comparing among different pore shapes with comparable sizes, the order of pore strength is CR>RH>RV>SQ. In addition, we observe that the direction of pore alignment and geometries of pore edge also play a key role in mechanical strength of nanopores.