Mechanical Stabilities and Properties of Graphene-like 2D III-Nitrides: A Review

Mechanical stabilities and properties are critical in real applications of materials, as well as material and machine design. With the success of graphene, graphene-like materials arose tremendous interest in the past few years. Different from bulk materials, two-dimensional (2D) materials have prominent non-linear elastic behaviors. Here, we briefly review the mechanical stabilities and properties of graphene-like 2D III-nitrides, including boron nitride (BN), aluminum nitride (AlN), gallium nitride (GaN), indium nitride (InN), and thallium nitride (TlN). These nitrides are excellent wide band gap semiconductors very suitable for modern electronic and optoelectronic applications. As a result, they play a central role in solid-state light-emitting devices. Their Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, ultimate tensile strength, and elastic limits under various strains are extensively studied, as well as their high-order elastic constants and non-linear behaviors. These studies provide a guide for their practical applications and designs.