Measuring graphene adhesion using atomic force microscopy with a microsphere tip

Abstract

Van der Waals adhesion between graphene and various substrates has an important impact on the physical properties, device applications and nanomanufacturing processes of graphene. Here we report a general, high-throughput and reliable method that can measure adhesion energies between ultraflat graphene and a broad range of materials using atomic force microscopy with a microsphere tip. In our experiments, only van der Waals force between the tip and a graphene flake is measured. The Maugis–Dugdale theory is employed to convert the measured adhesion force using AFM to the adhesion energy. The ultraflatness of monolayer graphene on mica eliminates the effect of graphene surface roughness on the adhesion, while roughness of the microsphere tip is addressed by the modified Rumpf model. Adhesion energies of monolayer graphene to SiO₂ and Cu are obtained as 0.46 and 0.75 J m⁻², respectively. This work provides valuable insight into the mechanism of graphene adhesion and can readily extend to the adhesion measurement for other 2D nanomaterials.