Graphene Tensile Device
As you might know, theoreticians have predicted that straining graphene above 10% would unlock the door to all types of novel applications including and not limited to: hydrogen storage, engineering of bad gaps, valleytronics devices, pseudo-magnetic fields, etc.
The tensile device and the femtopipette allowed Dr. Hugo Perez Garza to achieve 14%. On one side, the mechanical design of the tensile-MEMS was done such that extreme forces (in the miliNewton range) and long displacements (tens of microns) could be achieved. However, the graphene slips away if it is not properly clamped. Therefore, using the femtopipette he was able to dispense molecules that create chemical bonds between the graphene and the silicon of the shuttle, which results in a very strong clamping mechanism that allows the extreme strains.
Complete Tensile device
Zoom in to show clamped graphene
