Potential application of single-layered graphene sheet as strain sensor

Molecular structural mechanics is implemented to investigate the vibrational characteristics of defect-free single-layered graphene sheets (SLGSs), which have potential applications as strain sensors. The effect of strain on the fundamental frequencies of the defect-free zigzag and armchair models with clamped-clamped boundary condition is studied. The atomistic modeling results reveal while sensitivities of the strain sensors are not influenced significantly by chirality, they can be slightly increased by decreasing aspect ratios of the sheets. It is further shown that the SLGSs-based strain sensors are more sensitive to the applied stretch than the SWCNTs versions. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.