On Fracture of Pseudo-Graphenes

Abstract—Molecular dynamics is used to study the fracture of pseudo-graphenes, namely, allotropic forms of carbon that are modifications of graphene with a high density of periodically distributed disclinations with zero total charge. Disclinations in pseudo-graphenes are associated with improper carbon rings, that is, rings having 4, 5, 7, or 8 members, in contrast to the proper 6-member carbon rings constituting the ideal crystal lattice of graphene. Pseudo-graphenes, which have a significant excess of energy relative to graphene, show a significant (up to 50%) decrease in the critical tensile stress compared to defect-free graphene.