Molecular Dynamics Study on Graphene-Nanoflake Sensor Sandwiched Between Crossed Graphene-Nanoribbon Junctions.

We present a design of a nanoscale inertial measurement unit or a data archive using a graphene-nanoflake (GNF) sandwiched between crossed graphene-nanoribbon (GNR) junctions. When an external force applied is below the retracting force, the inertial force exerted on the movable GNF can telescope it. Then, the self-restoring force increases as the attractive van der Waals force between the GNF and the GNRs, which enables the GNF to automatically and fully retract back into the sandwich position immediately after the externally applied force is released. When the external force exceeds the retracting force, the GNF escapes from the crossed GNR junctions, which enables the device to be used as non-volatile memory. The heterostructure of GNR/-BN/GNR can be considered as an advanced structure in the proposed scheme.