Change of the Electronic Conductivity of CNTs and Graphene Sheets Caused by Three-dimensional Strain Field

M Ohnishi and H Kawakami and Y Suzuki and K Suzuki and H Miura, NANOTECHNOLOGY 2012, VOL 1: ADVANCED MATERIALS, CNTS, PARTICLES, FILMS AND COMPOSITES, 260-263 (2012).

In this study, the change of the conductivity of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) under deformation was analyzed by applying a molecular dynamics and the density functional theory (DFT). Various combinations of double-walled CNT structures were modeled for the analysis. The change of the band structure was calculated by changing the amplitude of the applied strain. It was found in some cases that the band structure changes drastically from metallic structure to semiconducting structure, and this result clearly indicated that the electronic conductivity of this multi-walled CNT (MWCNT) decreased significantly in a three-dimensional strain field.

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