Edge-modified zigzag-shaped graphene nanoribbons: Structure and electronic properties

VA Saroka and KG Batrakov and LA Chernozatonskii, PHYSICS OF THE SOLID STATE, 56, 2135-2145 (2014).

DOI: 10.1134/S106378341410028X

Control of the band gap of graphene nanoribbons is an important problem for the fabrication of effective radiation detectors and transducers operating in different frequency ranges. The periodic edge-modified zigzag-shaped graphene nanoribbon (GNR) provides two additional parameters for controlling the band gap of these structures, i.e., two GNR arms. The dependence of the band gap E (g) on these parameters is investigated using the pi-electron tight-binding method. For the considered nanoribbons, oscillations of the band gap E (g) as a function of the nanoribbon width are observed not only in the case of armchair- edge graphene nanoribbons (as for conventional graphene nanoribbons) but also for zigzag GNR edges. It is shown that the change in the band gap E (g) due to the variation in the length of one GNR arm is several times smaller than that due to the variation in the nanoribbon width, which provides the possibility for a smooth tuning of the band gap in the energy spectrum of the considered graphene nanoribbons.

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