Tension buckling of graphene: A new phenotype

• We obtain a new buckling phenotype of graphene subjected to uniform distributed tension force.
• The maximum amplitude oscillates around 3.60 nm for the free hanging zigzag graphene.
• The maximum amplitude is decreased for the armchair graphene with increase in temperature.

We report here a new phenotype of buckling of a monolayer free hanging graphene subjected to uniform distributed tension force on all atoms by molecular dynamics simulations. We find that buckling occurs when tension force is applied and is sufficiently large for both armchair and zigzag monolayer graphene sheets. The maximum amplitude oscillates around 3.60 nm for the free hanging zigzag graphene, but is decreased for the free hanging armchair graphene; whereas the associated applied tension force is decreased for both armchair and zigzag graphene sheets when the temperature is increased.