The possibility of Young’s modulus improvement in graphene by random vacancy defects under uniaxial tension

Abstract

Graphene has engendered great expectations of wide applications in the fields of electronics, reversible hydrogen storages and mechanical reinforcement agents. The mechanical properties of graphene are the essential factors in the operation environment and attract much attention. The unavoidable defects in the production process of graphene have crucial impacts on material feasibility and reliability. However, the confusion of either the negative or the positive effect by the vacancy defects in graphene is not clearly stated. This paper confirmed the possibility of Young’s modulus improvement by random vacancy defects. The enhancement and optimization of mechanical properties are practical in the design and manufacture process. In this study, Monte Carlo simulation is used to distribute the random vacancy defects. The uniaxial tension is loaded in armchair and zigzag edges, respectively. The probability of strengthen effects and maximum Young’s modulus with different amounts of randomly distributed vacancy defects are presented and compared.