Ultrasensitive measurement of interface adhesion by optically forged graphene blisters

Although interface adhesion dominates the mechanical behavior 2D materials, its magnitude is notoriously difficult to measure. Here we measure the adhesion between SiO₂ substrate and graphene by means of the topographies of round blisters created by a novel technique called optical forging [1]. The adhesion is quantified by comparing blister topographies from atomic force microscopy to ones simulated by thin sheet elasticity theory. In our sample, which consisted of SiO₂ substrate and graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition, we obtained interface adhesion orders of magnitude smaller than typically found in layered van der Waals materials. The laser-induced blister formation process thus significantly broadens measurement ranges and enables ultrasensitive determination of interface adhesion.

[1] A. Johansson, P. Myllyperkiö, P. Koskinen, J. Aumanen, J. Koivistoinen, H.-C. Tsai, C.-H Chen, L.-Y. Chang, V.-M. Hiltunen, J. J. Manninen, W. Y. Woon, and M. Pettersson, Optical forging of graphene into three-dimensional shapes Nano Letters, 17, 6469 (2017)