Understanding the mechanism and limits of strain transfer between supported 2D systems and their substrate is a most needed step toward the development of strain engineering at the nanoscale. This includes applications in straintronics, nanoelectromechanical devices, or new nanocomposites. Here, we have studied the limits of biaxial compressive strain transfer among SiO, diamond, and sapphire substrates and graphene. Using high pressure-which allows maximizing the adhesion between graphene and the substrate on which it is deposited-we show that the relevant parameter governing the graphene mechanical response is not the applied pressure but rather the strain that is transmitted from the substrate. Under these experimental conditions, we also show the existence of a critical biaxial stress beyond which strain transfer become partial and introduce a parameter, α, to characterize strain transfer efficiency. The critical stress and α appear to be dependent on the nature of the substrate. Under ideal biaxial strain transfer conditions, the phonon Raman G-band dependence with strain appears to be linear with a slope of -60 ± 3 cm/% down to biaxial strains of -0.9%. This evolution appears to be general for both biaxial compression and tension for different experimental setups, at least in the biaxial strain range -0.9% < ε < 1.8%, thus providing a criterion to validate total biaxial strain transfer hypotheses. These results invite us to cast a new look at mechanical strain experiments on deposited graphene as well as to other 2D layered materials.

The effect of pressure -by definition a 3-dimensional concept -on 2-dimensional systems brings a number of fundamental questions, which have been partly answered through newly engineered samples and experimental setups. In this review of the high-pressure Raman studies of graphene, we will in particular underline the importance of the presence of a supporting substrate and its role for the production of biaxial strain conditions in high pressure experiments. Raman shifts observed during these experiments may be related to the strain induced by the substrate rather than by the applied pressure, graphene stress, and hydrostatic pressure not being straightforwardly equivalent in this case of a composite 2D-on-3D material. We will also consider the effects of the nature of the substrate surface, the nature of the pressure transmitting media, as well as the effect of the number of layers on the high-pressure response of the 2D-system, by using the phonon behavior as strain probe as pressure is applied. The effects of adhesion and of strain transfer from the substrate to the 2D-system will be at the heart of our discussion.