Temperature-dependent negative Poisson's ratio of monolayer graphene: Prediction from molecular dynamics simulations

A temperature-dependent intrinsic property of monolayer graphene, the negative Poisson's ratio (NPR), is investigated in the present study. The classical molecular dynamics (MD) method is employed and the Erhart-Albe hybrid potential, i.e. the combination of the reactive empirical bond order (REBO) and the Tersoff potentials, is used for the graphene sheet in the numerical simulation. In the simulation process, the graphene sheet is assumed to be free standing with in-plane periodical boundary condition and under an ambient temperature up to 1000 K. Our study shows that the graphene NPR is decreased with the increase of temperature. Besides, we also perform the simulation of the graphene negative temperature expansion coefficient (NTEC) as an indirect validation of the present MD model. The characteristics of the nonlinear variations for both the NPR and the NTEC of a pristine graphene sheet are investigated. Our MD results at low temperature (0.1 K) further prove the intrinsic and anisotropic property of NPR for graphene.