Physics

Geology

Nanotechnology

Surface energy

Blisters

Mathematics

Heterojunction

Oceanography

Chemical physics

Composite material

Chemistry

Materials science

Programming language

Geometry

Substrate (aquarium)

Layer (electronics)

Computer science

Monolayer

Crystal (programming language)

Adhesion

Optoelectronics

Surface tension

Thermodynamics

Scaling

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Significance Spontaneously formed nanoblisters are almost inevitable when transferring 2D crystals to a substrate. We hypothesize that those nanoblisters are filled with liquid according to our time-lapse atomic force microscopy scans and reasonable estimation of adhesion energy. We show that the liquid-filled nanoblisters form as a result of competition between the elastic energy of the deformed 2D crystal, the interfacial energy associated with van der Waals interactions, and surface tension of the liquid contents. Besides pointing to solutions for controlling their shape and internal pressure, our analysis provides a method to estimate the work of adhesion of 2D material interfaces by simply measuring the aspect ratios of the blisters, which is essential for the design and fabrication of 2D crystal-based applications.

Mechanics of spontaneously formed nanoblisters trapped by transferred 2D crystals