Spatial strain variation of graphene films for stretchable electrodes

Graphene films fabricated by chemical vapor deposition are promising electrode materials for stretchable energy storage devices. The buckled four-layer graphene on a polydimethylsiloxane film substrate subject to various applied tensile strains has been characterized by atomic force microscopy and micro-Raman mapping. The small redshift of 2D band and the indiscernible D band demonstrated that the tensile strains of up to 40% only induced a strain variation of less than 0.2% and did not cause any observable damage in the graphene film. This study has confirmed that the graphene film in the buckled state is suitable for its application as a stretchable electrode.