Issue Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. Volume 46, Number 2, May 2009 Article Number 20601 Number of page(s) 5 Section Nanomaterials and Nanotechnologies DOI 10.1051/epjap/2009037 Published online 27 March 2009

Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. 46, 20601 (2009)
DOI: 10.1051/epjap/2009037

Effects of uniaxial strain on the band structure of boron nitride nanotubes: a first principles study

Z.G. Wang, Z. Li and D.M. Cheng

Department of Applied Physics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, 610054 Chengdu, P.R. China

zgwang@uestc.edu.cn

Received: 2 October 2008 / Accepted: 19 January 2009 / Published online: 27 March 2009

Abstract
First principles density functional calculations are used to study the uniaxial strain effects on the energy band structures of single- and multi-walled boron nitride nanotubes. Simulation results show that tensile strain induces a slight decrease in band gaps, while small and large compressive strains induce slight increases and decreases of band gaps, respectively. The maximum change of the band gap is ~0.5 eV. The band structures of all the nanotubes are not sensitive to uniaxial strain, which means that the boron nitride nanotubes could be used in blue and UV light-emitting devices under large uniaxial strain.

PACS
73.22.-f - Electronic structure of nanoscale materials: clusters, nanoparticles, nanotubes, and nanocrystals.
71.20.Nr - Semiconductor compounds.

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