On graphene melting

Resumo

Dynamics of disordering of graphene upon heating has been studied by computer simulation. The mechanism governing the formation of seeds for a three-dimensional grid of entangled carbon chains into which graphene is transformed upon melting has been analyzed in detail. It has been shown that the emergence of these seeds is preceded by the disruption of several interatomic bonds, accompanied with the formation of large rings or groups of adjacent rings and the formation of penta- and heptagons of their C–C bonds. The results of this work on the whole agree with the Lindemann–Lozovik criterion. The melting temperature is estimated as T_m ~ 5100 K.