Machining of 2D materials by ultrasonic embossing

• Main Author: Er, Kenwealth Quan Sheng
• Other Authors: Hong Li
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2022
• Subjects: Engineering::Mechanical engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/158890
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

2D materials such as Graphene have gained an immense interest ever since its discovery in 2004. Despite it being one of the thinnest materials, its mechanical properties like high strength, stiffness and toughness makes it stands out among all the materials. Due to its attractive properties, it is used in many applications in the field of engineering and material science. By shrinking the size of 2D materials toward nanoscale, it will allow us to access their properties in quantum regime. Herein, the author explores a novel ultrasonic embossing method that has the capability to imprint graphene nanostructures on silver and copper substrates. A variation of preparation steps to extract graphene layers from graphite crystals and transfer it onto substrates to obtain the optimal coverage were being experimented. Numerous embossing parameters were tested to fabricate a high yield of homogenous graphene nanoparticles. The results show that embossing the tape is able to produce the highest coverage of graphene on the substrate and embossing with a higher amplitude of 23% and above is able to imprint an array of graphene nanowires. Hence, ultrasonic embossing is proven to be effective in shrinking the size of 2D materials to nanoscale.