Determination of Cleavage Energy and Efficient Nanostructuring of Layered Materials by Atomic Force Microscopy.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 35427144.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c04868.
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Abstract
A method is presented to use atomic force microscopy to measure the cleavage energy of van der Waals materials and similar quasi-two-dimensional materials. The cleavage energy of graphite is measured to be 0.36 J/m<sup>2</sup>, in good agreement with literature data. The same method yields a cleavage energy of 0.6 J/m<sup>2</sup> for MoS<sub>2</sub> as a representative of the dichalcogenides. In the case of the weak topological insulator Bi<sub>14</sub>Rh<sub>3</sub>I<sub>9</sub> no cleavage energy is obtained, although cleavage is successful with an adapted approach. The cleavage energies of these materials are evaluated by means of density-functional calculations and literature data. This further validates the presented method and sets an upper limit of about 0.7 J/m<sup>2</sup> to the cleavage energy that can be measured by the present setup. In addition, this method can be used as a tool for manipulating exfoliated flakes, prior to or after contacting, which may open a new route for the fabrication of nanostructures.