The fracture of polycrystalline graphene is an example of a purely mechanical problem at the microscale which ultimately lie on the atomic structure. I investigate that phenomenon through atomic-scale simulations as part of a multi-scale model of indentation experiments on graphene sheets.
The electric properties of semiconductors are coupled in a non-trivial fashion to their mechanical deformation which affect, amongs others things, deformable solar cells. From the theoretical perspective, I explore these couplings through a modeling based on thermodynamics (energy and entropy being ultimately where the different physics meet). Experimental measurements of the electric response of solar cells under mechanical loading confirmed the significance of that coupling.
Morphological instabilities observed on crystal surfaces is another phenomenon that involves simultaneously elasticity, diffusion of chemical species and electrostatics. By means of stability analysis of the phenomenon of crystal growth, I question the fundamental mechanism responsible for the appearance of complex surface morphologies.