Mechanical properties of graphene cantilever from atomic force microscopy and density functional theory

We have studied the mechanical properties of a few-layer graphene cantilever (FLGC) using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The mechanical properties of the suspended FLGC over an open hole have been derived from the AFM data. Force displacement curves using the Derjaguin-Müller-Toporov (DMT) and the massless cantilever beam models yield a Young modulus of E(c) approximately 37, E(a) approximately 0.7 TPa and a Hamakar constant of approximately 3 x 10( - 18) J. The threshold force to shear the FLGC was determined from a breaking force and modeling. In addition, we studied a graphene nanoribbon (GNR), which is a system similar to the FLGC; using density functional theory (DFT). The in-plane Young's modulus for the GNRs were calculated from the DFT outcomes approximately 0.82 TPa and the results were compared with the experiment. We found that the Young's modulus and the threshold shearing force are dependent on the direction of applied force and the values are different for zigzag edge and armchair edge GNRs.