{"id":900780,"date":"2026-09-18T19:14:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T19:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/900780\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T19:14:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T19:14:14","slug":"tiny-wrinkles-bend-physics-to-change-how-electricity-moves-through-graphene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/900780\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiny wrinkles bend physics to change how electricity moves through graphene"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Graphene<\/p>\n

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Researchers have shown that tiny wrinkles in graphene can change the material\u2019s electrical properties. By harnessing this characteristic, scientists may one day control electricity in atomically thin materials \u2014 such as graphene \u2014 by changing their shape instead of adding new chemicals or materials, potentially powering more responsive sensors and ultrathin electronic devices.<\/p>\n

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Credit: Mario Norton \/ Rice University<\/p>\n

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. \u2014 Tiny wrinkles could reveal new behaviors in graphene, an exceptionally strong, conductive and thin material used in batteries, computer chips and other electronics. According to a new study published in Advanced Materials<\/a>, small bends in graphene\u2019s two-dimensional (2D), or one-atom-thick, structure can change the material\u2019s electrical properties.<\/p>\n

The team of physicists and engineers from multiple institutions, including co-corresponding author Vincent Meunier<\/a>, Department Head of Engineering Science and Mechanics and P. B. Breneman Chair and Professor at Penn State, reported that this wrinkling behavior offers evidence for flexoelectricity. This phenomenon occurs when a material bends unevenly \u2014 generating an electric dipole, or a system where two equal and opposite charges are separated by a small distance. By harnessing this characteristic, Meunier explained that scientists may one day control electricity in atomically thin materials \u2014 such as graphene \u2014 by changing their shape instead of adding new chemicals or materials, potentially powering more responsive sensors and ultrathin electronic devices.<\/p>\n

Meunier and his collaborator, Sergei V. Kalinin, who is now at the University of Tennessee, first predicted that sharply bending graphene could rearrange the electrons and produce an electrical response in a paper published in Physical Review B<\/a> almost 20 years ago. At the time, the prediction was entirely theoretical, but advances in science have now allowed Meunier and his current collaborators to test the effect experimentally.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my driving forces is to try to identify fun ideas to examine that may seem unreachable today, but could be applied years down the line,\u201d Meunier said. \u201cTo observe this effect practically, you need to have ultra-clean materials, which at the time of the prediction was a bit of a pipe dream. With advancements in fabrication technology, though, that dream is now a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Years later, Sathvik Ajay Iyengar, lead author of the most recent study who earned their doctorate in materials science and nanoengineering from Rice University and is now at the University of California, Berkeley, revisited data he had collected with Manoj Tripathi, a co-corresponding author at the University of Sussex who is now at South Dakota Mines. The team observed that during their experiments, unusual electrical signals were appearing at the sharpest graphene wrinkles. Sathvik brought the findings to Meunier, who had co-advised his doctoral work at Rice University.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Sathvik showed me the measurements he and Manoj had collected, we realized that the unusual signals could provide an experimental connection to an idea we had predicted many years earlier,\u201d Meunier said. \u201cI calculated the effect we had predicted for the specific geometry and compared it to the experiment, and it turns out the fit was almost perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Applying these calculations, the team examined naturally formed wrinkles with bends compressed into spaces only a few atoms wide, where the extreme curvature can shift electrons toward one side of the material. According to Meunier, advancements in materials science allowed the team to apply and test this theoretical effect across incredibly tiny bends.<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine bending a flexible ruler, except the bend is squeezed into a space smaller than a billionth of a meter,\u201d Iyengar said. \u201cAt that scale, the electrons in graphene shift slightly toward one side, creating two opposite electrical sides like the ends of a tiny battery.\u201d<\/p>\n

The research team used specialized microscope probes to measure the wrinkles\u2019 shape, local electrical energy and electrical current. They also used Raman spectroscopy, a laser-based technique that reveals how atoms are stretched or compressed, along with simulations performed on Penn State\u2019s Roar<\/a> supercomputer, to predict how bending changes the movement of electrons. Comparing sharply curved wrinkles with nearby flat graphene allowed the team to isolate the effects of curvature.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarlier studies often examined gentler bends or relied on external pressure, making this subtle effect difficult to separate,\u201d Iyengar said. \u201cComparing the sharply curved wrinkles with flat graphene allowed us to clearly identify the role of extreme curvature.\u201d<\/p>\n

The researchers found that the wrinkles acted like rows of tiny electrical speed bumps. Their sharply curved tips changed the local electrical energy and consistently produced an electrical current once about one volt of electricity was applied, closely matching predictions made by computer models and mathematical calculations.<\/p>\n

The electrical response depended on the sharpness of the wrinkles rather than their height. The researchers estimated that the resulting electrical charge separation, called polarization, was between 100,000 and 10 million times stronger than in much larger bends, or flexoelectric systems. Polarization is the separation of positive and negative electrical charges within a material.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sharpness of the wrinkle turned out to be much more important than its overall size,\u201d Iyengar said. \u201cThat tells us we can potentially tune electrical behavior by carefully controlling curvature at the nanoscale.\u201d<\/p>\n

That controlled approach could eventually support the development of more sensitive sensors and ultrathin electronic devices.<\/p>\n

\u201cNature already creates these tiny wrinkles for us,\u201d Iyengar said. \u201cUnderstanding how they influence electrical behavior gives scientists another tool for designing future technologies using the structure of a material itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional authors include James McHugh of the University of Manchester; Jonathan Salvage of the University of Brighton; Robert Vajtai of Rice University; Venkataramana Gadhamshetty of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology; and co-corresponding author Alan Dalton of the University of Sussex.<\/p>\n

The research was supported by the Quad Fellowship, the Sussex Strategy Development Fund, the University of Manchester Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellowship and the U.S. National Science Foundation under grant numbers OIA-2418752<\/a>, OIA-1849206<\/a> and DGE-2510643<\/a>. This content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of the funders.<\/p>\n

At Penn State, researchers are solving real problems that impact the health, safety and quality of life of people across the commonwealth, the nation and around the world.<\/p>\n

For decades, federal support for research has fueled innovation that makes our country safer, our industries more competitive and our economy stronger. Recent federal funding cuts threaten this progress.<\/p>\n

Learn more about the implications of federal funding cuts to our future at Research or Regress<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: A version of this story originally appeared on the Rice University website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Journal<\/p>\n

Advanced Materials<\/p>\n

Method of Research<\/p>\n

Experimental study<\/p>\n

Subject of Research<\/p>\n

Not applicable<\/p>\n

Article Title<\/p>\n

Sub-Nanometer Curvature Unlocks Quantum Orbital Flexoelectricity in Graphene<\/p>\n

Article Publication Date<\/p>\n

25-Jul-2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"image:\u00a0 Researchers have shown that tiny wrinkles in graphene can change the material\u2019s electrical properties. By harnessing this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900781,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49,48,66],"class_list":["post-900780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}