Thermodynamic properties of graphene bilayers

Abstract

Thermodynamic properties of graphene bilayers are studied by path-integral molecular dynamics (PIMD) simulations, considering quantization of vibrational modes and anharmonic effects. Bilayer graphene has been studied at temperatures between 12 and 1500~K for zero external stress, using the LCBOPII effective potential. We concentrate on the thermal expansion, in-plane and out-of-plane compressibility, and specific heat. Additional insight into the meaning of our results for bilayer graphene is obtained from a comparison with data obtained from PIMD simulations for monolayer graphene and graphite. They are also analyzed in view of experimental data for graphite. Zero-point and thermal effects on the in-plane and "real" area of bilayer graphene are studied. The thermal expansion coefficient $α_{xy}$ of the in-plane area is negative at low temperatures and positive for $T \gtrsim$ 800~K. The minimum $α_{xy}$ is $-6.6 \times 10^{-6}$ K$^{-1}$ at $T \approx 220$~K. Both in-plane ($χ_{xy}$) and out-of-plane ($χ_z$) compressibilities of graphene bilayers are found to increase for rising temperature, and turn out to be lower than that corresponding to monolayer graphene and higher than those found for graphite. At 300 K, we find for the bilayer $χ_{xy} = 9.5 \times 10^{-2}$ Å$^2$/eV and $χ_z = 2.97 \times 10^{-2}$ GPa$^{-1}$. Results for the specific heat obtained from the simulations are compared with those given by a harmonic approximation for the vibrational modes. This approach is noticeably accurate at temperatures lower than 200~K.