Defects, Corrugation and Temperature Govern Rarefied-Air Drag on Graphene Coatings

Condensed Matter > Materials Science [Submitted on 30 Jan 2026 (v1), last revised 31 May 2026 (this version, v3)] Title:Defects, Corrugation and Temperature Govern Rarefied-Air Drag on Graphene Coatings View PDF HTML (experimental)Abstract:In rarefied atmospheric environments, where continuum fluid dynamics breaks down, aerodynamic drag is governed by gas-surface momentum exchange, making surface structure and chemistry key design knobs. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we show that coating the $\alpha$-Al2O3(0001) surface with graphene markedly reduces the tangential momentum accommodation coefficient (TMAC) of N2, shifting scattering toward more specular reflection and thereby lowering drag; we further benchmark this response against graphite. The reduction strengthens up to 900 K. While structural defects can increase TMAC via defect-induced corrugation and local atomic and electronic rearrangements, graphene retains its performance at experimentally relevant defect densities. Submission history From: Samuel Cajahuaringa [view email][v1] Fri, 30 Jan 2026 20:14:33 UTC (4,727 KB) [v2] Thu, 7 May 2026 10:41:57 UTC (7,461 KB) [v3] Sun, 31 May 2026 00:02:11 UTC (7,461 KB) Current browse context: cond-mat.mtrl-sci Change to browse by: References & Citations Loading... Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Recommenders and Search Tools Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) IArxiv Recommender (What is IArxiv?) arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs.