Graphene–fullerene heterostructures as robust and flexible nanomechanical bits

Abstract

Electrical computers have revolutionized society over the past several decades, but questions have remained about their ability to perform in extreme environments, such as their stability at high-temperature conditions. This has motivated the recent surge of interest in developing mechanical computing platforms at all length scales, including the nanoscale, in which traditional electrical computers are augmented with mechanical ones. However, the most proposed nanomechanical bits are volatile memory bits based on the dynamic response of nanomechanical resonators, and as such, there is a need to develop robust and reprogrammable entirely non-volatile nanomechanical bits. Here, we exploit the multiple quasi-stable configurations of the graphene/fullerene/graphene (GFG) van der Waals heterostructure to work as a novel nonvolatile nanomechanical bit. The GFG heterostructure is unique and robust in that it can return to its initial state without further mechanical input, it can be used for logic functions at relevant operating temperatures through simple application of uniaxial strain, it can exhibit reprogrammability between five basic logic gates (NOT, AND, NAND, OR, NOR) by varying the magnitude or direction of applied strain, and it can be used to represent combinatorial logic through full and half adders. These findings provide a new opportunity to develop mechanical computers based on the large class of nanomaterials.