Strain-Induced Conductance Modulation in Graphene Grain Boundary

Grain boundaries (GBs) are ubiquitous in polycrystalline graphene materials obtained by various growth methods. It has been shown previously that considerable electrical transport gap can be opened by grain boundaries. On the other hand, polycrystalline graphene with GBs is an atomically thin membrane that can sustain extraordinary amount of strain. Here, by using atomistic quantum transport numerical simulations, we examine modulation of electrical transport properties of graphene GBs. The results indicate the modulation of transport gap and electrical conductance strongly depends on the topological structure of the GB. The transport gap of certain GBs can be significantly widened by strain, which is useful for improving the on off ratio in potential transistor applications and for applications as monolayer strain sensors.