Intrinsic toughening and stable crack propagation in hexagonal boron nitride.

If a bulk material can withstand a high load without any irreversible damage (such as plastic deformation), it is usually brittle and can fail catastrophically. This trade-off between strength and fracture toughness also extends into two-dimensional materials space. For example, graphene has ultrahigh intrinsic strength (about 130 gigapascals) and elastic modulus (approximately 1.

Hydrogen bonding sewing interface.

The strong force that originates from breaking covalent bonds can be easily quantified through various testing platforms, while weak interfacial sliding resistance (ISR), originating from hydrogen bonding or van der Waals (vdW) forces, is very challenging to measure. Facilitated by an in-house nanomechanical testing system, we are able to precisely quantify and clearly distinguish the interfacial interactions between individual carbon fibers and several substrates governed by either hydrogen bonding or vdW forces. The specific ISR of the interface dominated by vdW forces is 3.

Intrinsic high water/ion selectivity of graphene oxide lamellar membranes in concentration gradient-driven diffusion.

Although graphene oxide lamellar membranes (GOLMs) are effective in blocking large organic molecules and nanoparticles for nanofiltration and ultrafiltration, water desalination with GOLM is challenging, with seriously controversial results. Here, a combined experimental and molecular dynamics simulation study shows that intrinsic high water/ion selectivity of GOLM was achieved in concentration gradient-driven diffusion, showing great promise in water desalination. However, in pressure-driven filtration the salt rejection was poor.

Unzipping of carbon nanotubes is geometry-dependent.

Carbon nanotube (CNT) unzipping is a facile and efficient technique to produce narrow graphene nanoribbons. The diameter and chirality of CNTs control the geometry of the unzipped nanoribbons. In this work, we analyze the energetics of oxidation- and hydrogenation-induced unzipping processes.

Ultimate osmosis engineered by the pore geometry and functionalization of carbon nanostructures.

Osmosis is the key process in establishing versatile functions of cellular systems and enabling clean-water harvesting technologies. Membranes with single-atom thickness not only hold great promises in approaching the ultimate limit of these functions, but also offer an ideal test-bed to explore the underlying physical mechanisms. In this work, we explore diffusive and osmotic transport of water and ions through carbon nanotube and porous graphene based membranes by performing molecular dynamics simulations.

Defect-detriment to graphene strength is concealed by local probe: the topological and geometrical effects.

Defects in solids commonly limit mechanical performance of materials by reducing their rigidity and strength. However, topological defects also induce a prominent geometrical effect in addition to local stress buildup, which is especially pronounced in two-dimensional crystals. These dual roles of defects modulate mechanical responses of the material under local and global probes in very different ways.

Ultrafast molecule separation through layered WS(2) nanosheet membranes.

Two-dimensional layered materials have joined in the family of size-selective separation membranes recently. Here, chemically exfoliated tungsten disulfide (WS2) nanosheets are assembled into lamellar thin films and explored as an ultrafast separation membrane for small molecules with size of about 3 nm. Layered WS2 membranes exhibit 5- and 2-fold enhancement in water permeance of graphene oxide membranes and MoS2 laminar membranes with similar rejection, respectively.

Selective trans-membrane transport of alkali and alkaline earth cations through graphene oxide membranes based on cation-π interactions.

Graphene and graphene oxide (G-O) have been demonstrated to be excellent filters for various gases and liquids, showing potential applications in areas such as molecular sieving and water desalination. In this paper, the selective trans-membrane transport properties of alkali and alkaline earth cations through a membrane composed of stacked and overlapped G-O sheets ("G-O membrane") are investigated. The thermodynamics of the ion transport process reveal that the competition between the generated thermal motions and the interactions of cations with the G-O sheets results in the different penetration behaviors to temperature variations for the considered cations (K(+), Mg(2+), Ca(2+), and Ba(2+)).

Ultrafast viscous water flow through nanostrand-channelled graphene oxide membranes.

Pressure-driven ultrafiltration membranes are important in separation applications. Advanced filtration membranes with high permeance and enhanced rejection must be developed to meet rising worldwide demand. Here we report nanostrand-channelled graphene oxide ultrafiltration membranes with a network of nanochannels with a narrow size distribution (3-5 nm) and superior separation performance.

Pseudo Hall-Petch strength reduction in polycrystalline graphene.

The fracture of polycrystalline graphene is explored by performing molecular dynamics simulations with realistic finite-grain-size models, emphasizing the role of grain boundary ends and junctions. The simulations reveal a ~50% or more strength reduction due to the presence of the network of boundaries between polygonal grains, with cracks preferentially starting at the junctions. With a larger grain size, a surprising systematic decrease of tensile strength and failure strain is observed, while the elastic modulus rises.