• 文献标题:   Elastocapillary cleaning of twisted bilayer graphene interfaces
  • 文献类型:   Article
  • 作  者:   HOU Y, DAI ZH, ZHANG S, FENG SZ, WANG GR, LIU LQ, XU ZP, LI QY, ZHANG Z
  • 作者关键词:  
  • 出版物名称:   NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
  • ISSN:   2041-1723
  • 通讯作者地址:  
  • 被引频次:   12
  • DOI:   10.1038/s41467-021-25302-2
  • 出版年:   2021

▎ 摘  要

Although layered van der Waals (vdW) materials involve vast interface areas that are often subject to contamination, vdW interactions between layers may squeeze interfacial contaminants into nanopockets. More intriguingly, those nanopockets could spontaneously coalesce into larger ones, which are easier to be squeezed out the atomic channels. Such unusual phenomena have been thought of as an Ostwald ripening process that is driven by the capillarity of the confined liquid. The underlying mechanism, however, is unclear as the crucial role played by the sheet's elasticity has not been previously appreciated. Here, we demonstrate the coalescence of separated nanopockets and propose a cleaning mechanism in which both elastic and capillary forces are at play. We elucidate this mechanism in terms of control of the nanopocket morphology and the coalescence of nanopockets via a mechanical stretch. Besides, we demonstrate that bilayer graphene interfaces excel in self-renewal phenomena. Here, the authors investigate the long-range interaction and coalescence mechanism of water and ethanol nanopockets encapsulated in twisted bilayer graphene, showing the complete recovery of moire patterns after the motion of the contaminants.