Macroscopic self-reorientation of interacting two-dimensional crystals

C. R. Woods, F. Withers, M. J. Zhu, Y. Cao, G. Yu, A. Kozikov, M. Ben Shalom, S. V. Morozov, M. M. van Wijk, A. Fasolino, M. I. Katsnelson, K. Watanabe, T. Taniguchi, A. K. Geim, A. Mishchenko and K. S. Novoselov ()
Additional contact information
C. R. Woods: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester
F. Withers: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester
M. J. Zhu: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester
Y. Cao: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester
G. Yu: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester
A. Kozikov: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester
M. Ben Shalom: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester
S. V. Morozov: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester
M. M. van Wijk: Institute for Molecules and Materials,Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
A. Fasolino: Institute for Molecules and Materials,Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
M. I. Katsnelson: Institute for Molecules and Materials,Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
K. Watanabe: National Institute for Materials Science
T. Taniguchi: National Institute for Materials Science
A. K. Geim: Centre for Mesoscience and Nanotechnology, University of Manchester
A. Mishchenko: National Graphene Institute, University of Manchester
K. S. Novoselov: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-5

Abstract: Abstract Microelectromechanical systems, which can be moved or rotated with nanometre precision, already find applications in such fields as radio-frequency electronics, micro-attenuators, sensors and many others. Especially interesting are those which allow fine control over the motion on the atomic scale because of self-alignment mechanisms and forces acting on the atomic level. Such machines can produce well-controlled movements as a reaction to small changes of the external parameters. Here we demonstrate that, for the system of graphene on hexagonal boron nitride, the interplay between the van der Waals and elastic energies results in graphene mechanically self-rotating towards the hexagonal boron nitride crystallographic directions. Such rotation is macroscopic (for graphene flakes of tens of micrometres the tangential movement can be on hundreds of nanometres) and can be used for reproducible manufacturing of aligned van der Waals heterostructures.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms10800

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