Nano Express
Mechanical properties of freely suspended semiconducting graphene-like layers based on MoS2
1 Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, Lorentzweg 1, Delft 2628, CJ, The Netherlands
2 Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada (C-III), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus de Cantoblanco, Madrid E-28049, Spain
3 Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados en Nanociencia (IMDEA-Nanociencia), Madrid E-28049, Spain
4 Department of Engineering Science, Yale University, Becton 215, 15 Prospect St., New Haven, CT 06520, USA
Nanoscale Research Letters 2012, 7:233 doi:10.1186/1556-276X-7-233
Published: 25 April 2012Abstract
We fabricate freely suspended nanosheets of molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) which are characterized by quantitative optical microscopy and high-resolution friction force microscopy. We study the elastic deformation of freely suspended nanosheets of MoS2 using an atomic force microscope. The Young's modulus and the initial pre-tension of the nanosheets are determined by performing a nanoscopic version of a bending test experiment. MoS2 sheets show high elasticity and an extremely high Young's modulus (0.30 TPa, 50% larger than steel). These results make them a potential alternative to graphene in applications requiring flexible semiconductor materials.
PACS, 73.61.Le, other inorganic semiconductors, 68.65.Ac, multilayers, 62.20.de, elastic moduli, 81.40.Jj, elasticity and anelasticity, stress-strain relations.
