Definitive engineering strength and fracture toughness of graphene through on-chip nanomechanics

Fail-safe design of devices requires robust integrity assessment procedures which are still absent for 2D materials, hence affecting transfer to applications. Here, a combined on-chip tension and cracking method, and associated data reduction scheme have been developed to determine the fracture toughness and strength of monolayer-monodomain-freestanding graphene. Myriads of specimens are generated providing statistical data. The crack arrest tests provide a definitive fracture toughness of 4.4 MPa $$\sqrt{{{{{{\rm{m}}}}}}}$$ m . Tension on-chip provides Young’s modulus of 950 GPa, fracture strain of 11%, and tensile strength up to 110 GPa, reaching a record of stored elastic energy ~6 GJ m−3 as confirmed by thermodynamics and quantized fracture mechanics. A ~ 1.4 nm crack size is often found responsible for graphene failure, connected to 5-7 pair defects. Micron-sized graphene membranes and smaller can be produced defect-free, and design rules can be based on 110 GPa strength. For larger areas, a fail-safe design should be based on a maximum 57 GPa strength.