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The role of defects in the tensile properties of silicene

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Abstract

Effects of vacancies and Stone–Wales defects on the mechanical properties of silicene are investigated through molecular dynamic finite element method with Tersoff potential. Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio and uniaxial tensile stress–strain curves are considered in the armchair and zigzag directions. It is found that pristine and lowly defective silicene sheets exhibit almost the same elastic nature up to fracture points. However, a single defect weakens significantly the silicene sheet, resulting in a considerable reduction in the fracture strength. One 2-atom vacancy in the sheet’s center reduces 18–20 % in fracture stress and 33–35 % in fracture strain. The weakening effects of Stone–Wales defects vary with the tensile direction and the orientation of these defects.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Vietnam National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED) under the Grant No. 107.02-2014.03.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanics of Materials and Structures, School of Mechanical Engineering, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, No. 1, Dai Co Viet Road, Hanoi, Vietnam

    Minh-Quy Le & Danh-Truong Nguyen

  2. Institute for Computational Science and Engineering, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, No. 1, Dai Co Viet Road, Hanoi, Vietnam

    Minh-Quy Le

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Correspondence to Minh-Quy Le.

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Le, MQ., Nguyen, DT. The role of defects in the tensile properties of silicene. Appl. Phys. A 118, 1437–1445 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-014-8904-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-014-8904-3

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