Electronic transport properties of graphene nanoribbons with anomalous edges

¹ College of Physical Science and Technology, Yangtze University, Jingzhou, Hubei, 434023, P.R. China
² School of Mathematics and Physics, Chongqing University of Technology, Chongqing, 400054, P.R. China

Corresponding author: zenghui@yangtzeu.edu.cn

Received: 13 October 2010
Accepted: 1 December 2010
Published online: 28 January 2011

Abstract

The atomic edges of graphene nanoribbons with anomalous geometry structure were very recently observed in experimental evidence by [Koskinen et al., Phys. Rev. B 80, 073401 (2009)]. We present first-principles calculation to investigate the electronic structures and transport properties of graphene nanoribbon with anomalous edges (two configurations, namely 5-7-7 edge and 5-6 edge). Electronic band results demonstrate that the Fermi level is downward shifted due to the formation of the anomalous edges in these configurations. The band gap is substantially increased as a result of the presence of the 5-7-7 edge. Furthermore, the conductance below the Fermi level presents more prominent variation in the 5-6 edge configuration, indicating that this defect mainly affecting its valence bands. Our results provide the possibility of new approaches to control the electronic transport properties of graphene nanoribbons via tailoring the atomic structure of their edges.