Stretching and Breaking of Ultrathin MoS2

We report on measurements of the stiffness and breaking strength of monolayer MoS2, a new semiconducting analogue of graphene. Single and bilayer MoS2 is exfoliated from bulk and transferred to a substrate containing an array of microfabricated circular holes. The resulting suspended, free-standing...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:ACS nano 2011-12, Vol.5 (12), p.9703-9709
Main Authors: Bertolazzi, Simone, Brivio, Jacopo, Kis, Andras
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Disulfides - chemistry
Elastic Modulus
Materials Testing
Membranes, Artificial
Molecular Conformation
Molybdenum - chemistry
Nanostructures - chemistry
Nanostructures - ultrastructure
Particle Size
Stress, Mechanical
Surface Properties
Tensile Strength
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Summary:We report on measurements of the stiffness and breaking strength of monolayer MoS2, a new semiconducting analogue of graphene. Single and bilayer MoS2 is exfoliated from bulk and transferred to a substrate containing an array of microfabricated circular holes. The resulting suspended, free-standing membranes are deformed and eventually broken using an atomic force microscope. We find that the in-plane stiffness of monolayer MoS2 is 180 ± 60 Nm–1, corresponding to an effective Young’s modulus of 270 ± 100 GPa, which is comparable to that of steel. Breaking occurs at an effective strain between 6 and 11% with the average breaking strength of 15 ± 3 Nm–1 (23 GPa). The strength of strongest monolayer membranes is 11% of its Young’s modulus, corresponding to the upper theoretical limit which indicates that the material can be highly crystalline and almost defect-free. Our results show that monolayer MoS2 could be suitable for a variety of applications such as reinforcing elements in composites and for fabrication of flexible electronic devices.
ISSN:1936-0851
1936-086X
DOI:10.1021/nn203879f