Effects of temperature and strain rate on the mechanical properties of silicene

Silicene, a graphene-like two-dimensional silicon, has attracted great attention due to its fascinating electronic properties similar to graphene and its compatibility with existing semiconducting technology. So far, the effects of temperature and strain rate on its mechanical properties remain unexplored. We investigate the mechanical properties of silicene under uniaxial tensile deformation by using molecular dynamics simulations. We find that the fracture strength and fracture strain of silicene are much higher than those of bulk silicon, though the Youngs modulus of silicene is lower than that of bulk silicon. An increase in temperature decreases the fracture strength and fracture strain of silicene significantly, while an increase in strain rate enhances them slightly. The fracture process of silicene is also studied and brittle fracture behavior is observed in the simulations.