Carbon and van der Waals materials

Stability of planar slits in multilayer graphite crystals

A. V. Savin^ab, A. P. Klinov<sup>a

a</sup> N. N. Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
^b Plekhanov Russian State University of Economics, Moscow

Abstract: Using a two-dimensional coarse-grained chain model, planar slits in multilayer graphite crystals are simulated. It is shown that when covering a linear cavity on the flat surface of a graphite crystal with a multilayer graphene sheet, an open (unfilled slit) can form only if the cavity width does not exceed a critical value $L_o$ (for width $L>L_o$, only a closed state of the slit is formed, with the cavity space filled by the covering sheet). The critical width of the open slit $L_o$ increases monotonically with the number of layers K in the covering sheet. For a single-layer cavity, there is a finite critical value of its width $L_o<$ 3 nm, while for two- and three-layer cavities, the maximum width of the open slit increases infinitely with increasing $K$ as a power function $K^\alpha$ with exponent 0 $<\alpha<$ 1. Inside the crystal, two- and three-layer slits can have stable open states at any width. For a slit with width $L>$ 7.6 nm, a stationary closed state is also possible, in which its lower and upper surfaces adhere to each other. Simulation of thermal oscillations showed that open states of two-layer slits with width $L<$ 15 nm are always stable against thermal oscillations, while wider slits at $T>$ 400 K transition from the open to the closed state. Open states of three-layer slits are always stable against thermal oscillations.

Keywords: graphene, graphite, flat slits, molecular dynamics, coarse-grained model.

Received: 28.10.2025
Revised: 07.11.2025
Accepted: 17.11.2025

DOI: 10.61011/FTT.2025.11.62145.303-25

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