Measuring friction from simulations of folded graphene sheets

Abstract

We ran molecular dynamics simulations of folded graphene sheets and present a procedure to measure the sliding friction in these systems based on the rate of decay of a damped harmonic oscillator. This procedure allowed us to study the effect that the size, geometry, and the temperature of the graphene sheet had on the ability to propagate the initial fold and the rate at which it settles to a final “fully folded” equilibrium state. We offer simple rationalizations for the relationships between the initial geometries of our simulations and the friction values that emerge.