The adhesion of a mica nanolayer on a single-layer graphene supported by SiO₂ substrate characterised in air

Two-dimensional nanolayers have found increasingly widespread applications in modern flexible electronic devices. Their adhesion with neighbouring layers can significantly affect the mechanical stability and the reliability of those devices. However, the measurement of such adhesion has been a great challenge. In this work, we develop a new and simple methodology to measure the interfacial adhesion between a mica nanolayer (MNL) and a single-layer graphene (SLG) supported by a SiO₂ substrate. The method is based on the well-known Obreimoff method but integrated with innovative nanomanipulation and profile measuring approaches. Our study shows that the adhesion energy of MNLs on the SLG/SiO₂ substrate system is considerably lower than that on the SiO₂ substrate alone. Quantitative analyses reveal that the wrinkles formed on the SLG can considerably lower the adhesion. This outcome is of technological value as the adhesion maybe tailored by controlling the wrinkle formation in the graphene layer in a flexible electronic device.