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)