Modifying the electrical properties of graphene by reversible point-ripple formation

Abstract

Strain, ripples and wrinkles in graphene reduce the charge-carrier mobility and alter the electronic behaviour. In few-layer graphene the anisotropy between the in-plane and cross-plane resistivity is altered and a band gap can be opened up. Here we demonstrate a method to reversibly induce point ripples in electrically isolated few-layer graphene with the ability to select the number of layers used for transport measurement down to single layer. During ripple formation the in-plane and cross-plane sheet resistances increase by up to 78% and 699% respectively, confirming that microscopic corrugation changes can solely account for graphene's non-ideal charge-carrier mobility. The method can also count the number of layers in few-layer graphene and is complimentary to Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy when n ≤ 4. Understanding these changes is crucial to realising practical oscillators, nano-electromechanical systems and flexible electronics with graphene.