A Review on Mechanics and Mechanical Properties of 2D Materials - Graphene and Beyond

Since the first successful synthesis of graphene just over a decade ago, a variety of two-dimensional (2D) materials (e.g., transition metal-dichalcogenides, hexagonal boron-nitride, etc.) have been discovered. Among the many unique and attractive properties of 2D materials, mechanical properties play important roles in manufacturing, integration and performance for their potential applications. Mechanics is indispensable in the study of mechanical properties, both experimentally and theoretically. The coupling between the mechanical and other physical properties (thermal, electronic, optical) is also of great interest in exploring novel applications, where mechanics has to be combined with condensed matter physics to establish a scalable theoretical framework. Moreover, mechanical interactions between 2D materials and various substrate materials are essential for integrated device applications of 2D materials, for which the mechanics of interfaces (adhesion and friction) has to be developed for the 2D materials. Here we review recent theoretical and experimental works related to mechanics and mechanical properties of 2D materials. While graphene is the most studied 2D material to date, we expect continual growth of interest in the mechanics of other 2D materials beyond graphene

Heterostructured materials: superior properties from hetero-zone interaction

Heterostructured materials are an emerging class of materials with superior performances that are unattainable by their conventional homogeneous counterparts. They consist of heterogeneous zones with dramatic (>100%) variations in mechanical and/or physical properties. The interaction in these hetero-zones produces a synergistic effect where the integrated property exceeds the prediction by the rule-of-mixtures. The heterostructured materials field explores heterostructures to control defect distributions, long-range internal stresses, and nonlinear inter-zone interactions for unprecedented performances. This paper is aimed to provide perspectives on this novel field, describe the state-of-the-art of heterostructured materials, and identify and discuss key issues that deserve additional studies

Design, synthesis and anticancer properties of isocombretapyridines as potent colchicine binding site inhibitors

A series of novel isocombretapyridines were designed and synthesized based on a lead compound isocombretastatin A-4 (isoCA-4) by replacing 3,4,5-trimethoxylphenyl with substituent pyridine nucleus. The MTT assay results showed that compound 20a possessed the most potent activities against all tested cell lines with IC50 values at nanomolar concentration ranges. Moreover, 20a inhibited tubulin polymerization at a micromolar level and also displayed potent anti-vascular activity in vitro. Further mechanistic studies were conducted to demonstrate that compound 20a could bind to the colchicine site of tubulin,and disrupte the cell microtubule networks, induce G2/M phase arrest, promote apoptosis and depolarize mitochondria of K562 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Notably, 20a exhibited more potent tumor growth inhibition activity with 68.7% tumor growth inhibition than that of isoCA-4 in H22 allograft mouse model without apparent toxicity. The present results suggested that compound 20a may serve as a promising potent microtubule-destabilizing agent candidate for the development of therapeutics to treat cancer

Metal-functionalized single-walled graphitic carbon nitride nanotubes: a first-principles study on magnetic property

The magnetic properties of metal-functionalized graphitic carbon nitride nanotubes were investigated based on first-principles calculations. The graphitic carbon nitride nanotube can be either ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic by functionalizing with different metal atoms. The W- and Ti-functionalized nanotubes are ferromagnetic, which are attributed to carrier-mediated interactions because of the coupling between the spin-polarized d and p electrons and the formation of the impurity bands close to the band edges. However, Cr-, Mn-, Co-, and Ni-functionalized nanotubes are antiferromagnetic because of the anti-alignment of the magnetic moments between neighboring metal atoms. The functionalized nanotubes may be used in spintronics and hydrogen storage

Soft Matrices Suppress Cooperative Behaviors among Receptor-Ligand Bonds in Cell Adhesion

The fact that biological tissues are stable over prolonged periods of time while individual receptor-ligand bonds only have limited lifetime underscores the critical importance of cooperative behaviors of multiple molecular bonds, in particular the competition between the rate of rupture of closed bonds (death rate) and the rate of rebinding of open bonds (birth rate) in a bond cluster. We have recently shown that soft matrices can greatly increase the death rate in a bond cluster by inducing severe stress concentration near the adhesion edges. In the present paper, we report a more striking effect that, irrespective of stress concentration, soft matrices also suppress the birth rate in a bond cluster by increasing the local separation distance between open bonds. This is shown by theoretical analysis as well as Monte Carlo simulations based on a stochastic-elasticity model in which stochastic descriptions of molecular bonds and elastic descriptions of interfacial force/separation are unified in a single modeling framework. Our findings not only are important for understanding the role of elastic matrices in cell adhesion, but also have general implications on adhesion between soft materials

A gradient Eshelby force on twinning partial dislocations and associated detwinning mechanism in gradient nanotwinned metals

It is well known that the driving force on dislocation glide is the Peach-Koehler force which is proportional to the resolved shear stress on the slip plane. Here, we report a type of configurational force, referred to as the gradient Eshelby force, that can drive the motion of twinning partial dislocations on twin boundaries (TBs) in the absence of any resolved shear stress and cause detwinning in gradient nanotwinned (GNT) metals, an emerging class of multiscale metallic materials with exceptional mechanical properties and novel deformation mechanisms. Specifically, we consider the Eshelby-force-driven motion of twinning partial dislocations and associated detwinning mechanism in GNT metals made of preferentially oriented TBs and columnar grain boundaries (GBs) with spatially varying twin spacing and grain size. Large-scale molecular dynamics simulations validate the proposed Eshelby-driven detwinning mechanism, where twinning partial dislocations are nucleated from GBs and glide on TBs near the region with the steepest local gradient, leading to extensive TB migration and twin annihilation. This study demonstrates the important role of Eshelby force in controlling twinning partial glide and TB migration in GNT metals, which may have broad implications on plastic deformation in gradient nanostructured metals.This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11902289, 12172324) and Zhejiang University through the "Hundred Talents Program"

One-Pot NBS-Promoted Synthesis of Imidazoles and Thiazoles from Ethylarenes in Water

A facile and eco-friendly method has been developed for the synthesis of imidazoles and thiazoles from ethylarenes in water. The reaction proceeds via in situ formation of α-bromoketone using NBS as a bromine source as well as an oxidant, followed by trapping with suitable nucleophiles to provide the corresponding products in good yields under metal-free conditions

Competition between shear localization and tensile detwinning in twinned nanowires

Recently, a transition of deformation mechanism from localized dislocation slip to delocalized plasticity via an anomalous tensile detwinning mechanism has been discovered in bitwinned metallic nanowires (NWs) with a single twin boundary (TB) running parallel to the NW length. However, experiments showed that the anomalous tensile detwinning in most of bitwinned NWs does not propagate through the whole NW, which limits the NWs failure strain when compared to the twinning-induced superplasticity in single-crystalline NWs. An elusive but fundamentally important question is that what factors might affect the propagation of tensile detwinning in such bitwinned NWs. In addition, can this tensile detwinning mechanism be applied to other types of twinned NWs? Here, based on in situ transmission electron microscopy testing and molecular dynamics simulations, a competition between shear localization and tensile detwinning is identified. By dividing the tensile detwinning mechanism into two steps and investigating each step separately, it is found that the quality of a single-crystalline embryo formed during step one determines the succeeding detwinning propagation (step two) and the final plastic strain. Furthermore, this anomalous tensile detwinning mechanism is extended to other metallic NWs with multiple TBs running parallel to the length direction, such as asymmetric pentatwinned NWs and NWs with multiple parallel TBs. This work highlights the important role of detwinning in large plasticity in metallic NWs with different twin structures.Published versio