Negative Poisson's Ratio in Single-Layer Graphene Ribbons

The Poisson's ratio characterizes the resultant strain in the lateral direction for a material under longitudinal deformation. Though negative Poisson's ratios (NPR) are theoretically possible within continuum elasticity, they are most frequently observed in engineered materials and structures, as they are not intrinsic to many materials. In this work, we report NPR in single-layer graphene ribbons, which results from the compressive edge stress induced warping of the edges. The effect is robust, as the NPR is observed for graphene ribbons with widths smaller than about 10 nm, and for tensile strains smaller than about 0.5%, with NPR values reaching as large as -1.51. The NPR is explained analytically using an inclined plate model, which is able to predict the Poisson's ratio for graphene sheets of arbitrary size. The inclined plate model demonstrates that the NPR is governed by the interplay between the width (a bulk property), and the warping amplitude of the edge (an edge property), which eventually yields a phase diagram determining the sign of the Poisson's ratio as a function of the graphene geometry.