Deflection of suspended graphene by a transverse electric field

Abstract

We investigate the electromechanical response of doubly clamped graphene nanoribbons to a transverse gate voltage. An analytical model is developed to predict the field-induced deformation of graphene nanoribbons as a function of field intensity and graphene geometry. This model is validated thought atomistic simulations using the combination of a constitutive charge-dipole model and a pseudo-chemical many-body potential. As a newly observed effect of electric polarization, this field-induced deflection allows the graphene to oscillate at its natural frequency, which is found to decrease dramatically with increasing graphene size.