Sensitivity Comparison between Monolayer Graphene and Multilayer Graphene

Abstract

Graphene is an excellent piezoresistive material. The gauge factor of graphene mirrors the sensitivity of electromechanical devices. This paper mainly studies the gauge factors of different layers of graphene under different deformation conditions. Specifically, a theoretical model was combined with linearized Boltzmann transport equation, and the density function theory (DFT) to explore how the layer number of graphene affects sensitivity. The results show that monolayer graphene is slightly more sensitive than two-layer graphene, and significantly more sensitive than three-layer graphene and four- layer graphene. In particular, monolayer graphene remains highly sensitive under large deformation conditions, which gives monolayer graphene a significant advantage over other layers of graphene. Furthermore, a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) pressure sensor was proposed with monolayer graphene, and compared with previous similar sensors with multilayer graphene in terms of sensitivity.