Anomalous piezoelectricity in two-dimensional graphene nitride nanosheets

Matthew Zelisko, Yuranan Hanlumyuang, Shubin Yang, Yuanming Liu, Chihou Lei, Jiangyu Li, Pulickel M. Ajayan and Pradeep Sharma ()
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Matthew Zelisko: University of Houston
Yuranan Hanlumyuang: Kasetsart University
Shubin Yang: Rice University
Yuanming Liu: University of Washington
Chihou Lei: University of Washington
Jiangyu Li: University of Washington
Pulickel M. Ajayan: Rice University
Pradeep Sharma: University of Houston

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Piezoelectricity is a unique property of materials that permits the conversion of mechanical stimuli into electrical and vice versa. On the basis of crystal symmetry considerations, pristine carbon nitride (C3N4) in its various forms is non-piezoelectric. Here we find clear evidence via piezoresponse force microscopy and quantum mechanical calculations that both atomically thin and layered graphitic carbon nitride, or graphene nitride, nanosheets exhibit anomalous piezoelectricity. Insights from ab inito calculations indicate that the emergence of piezoelectricity in this material is due to the fact that a stable phase of graphene nitride nanosheet is riddled with regularly spaced triangular holes. These non-centrosymmetric pores, and the universal presence of flexoelectricity in all dielectrics, lead to the manifestation of the apparent and experimentally verified piezoelectric response. Quantitatively, an e11 piezoelectric coefficient of 0.758 C m−2 is predicted for C3N4 superlattice, significantly larger than that of the commonly compared α-quartz.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5284

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