Elastocaloric Effect in Graphene Kirigami

Kirigami, a traditional Japanese art of paper cutting,has recentlybeen explored for its elastocaloric effect (ECE) in kirigami-basedmaterials (KMs), where an applied strain induces temperature changes.Importantly, the feasibility of a nanoscale graphene kirigami monolayerwas experimentally demonstrated. Here, we investigate the ECE in GKrepresenting the thinnest possible KM to better understand this phenomenon.Through molecular dynamics simulations, we analyze the temperaturechange and coefficient of performance (COP) of GK. Our findings revealthat while GKs lack the intricate temperature changes observed inmacroscopic KMs, they exhibit a substantial temperature change ofapproximately 9.32 K (23 times higher than that of macroscopic KMs,which is about 0.4 K) for heating and -3.50 K for cooling.Furthermore, they demonstrate reasonable COP values of approximately1.57 and 0.62, respectively. It is noteworthy that the one-atom-thickgraphene configuration prevents the occurrence of the complex temperaturedistribution observed in macroscopic KMs.