No Arabic abstract
We investigate the electronic structures of some defective boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) under transverse electric fields within density-functional theory. (16,0) BNNTs with antisite, carbon substitution, single vacancy, and Stone-Wales 5775 defects are studied. Under transverse electric fields, the band gaps of the defective BNNTs are reduced, similar to the pristine ones. The energy levels of the defect states vary with the transverse electric field directions, due to the different electrostatic potential shift at the defect sites induced by the electric fields. Therefore, besides electronic structure and optical property engineering, the transverse electric field can be used to identify the defect positions in BNNTs.
The electronic structures of boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) doped by different organic molecules under a transverse electric field were investigated via first-principles calculations. The external field reduces the energy gap of BNNT, thus makes the molecular bands closer to the BNNT band edges and enhances the charge transfers between BNNT and molecules. The effects of the electric field direction on the band structure are negligible. The electric field shielding effect of BNNT to the inside organic molecules is discussed. Organic molecule doping strongly modifies the optical property of BNNT, and the absorption edge is red-shifted under static transverse electric field.
We report the stability and electronic structures of the boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) with diameters below 4 A by semi-empirical quantum mechanical molecular dynamics simulations and ab initio calculations. Among them (3,0), (3,1), (2,2), (4,0), (4,1) and (3,2) BNNTs can be stable well over room temperature. These small BNNTs become globally stable when encapsulated in a larger BNNT. It is found that the energy gaps and work functions of these small BNNTs are strongly dependent on their chirality and diameters. The small zigzag BNNTs become desirable semiconductors and have peculiar distribution of nearly free electron states due to strong hybridization effect. When such a small BNNT is inserted in a larger one, the energy gap of the formed double-walled BNNT can even be much reduced due to the coupled effect of wall buckling difference and NFE-pi hybridization.
Quantum-dot states in graphene nanoribbons (GNR) were calculated using density-functional theory, considering the effect of the electric field of gate electrodes. The field is parallel to the GNR plane and was generated by an inhomogeneous charge sheet placed atop the ribbon. Varying the electric field allowed to observe the development of the GNR states and the formation of localized, quantum-dot-like states in the band gap. The calculation has been performed for armchair GNRs and for armchair ribbons with a zigzag section. For the armchair GNR a static dielectric constant of {epsilon} approx. 4 could be determined.
The role of defects in van der Waals heterostructures made of graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is studied by a combination of ab initio and model calculations. Despite the weak van der Waals interaction between layers, defects residing in h-BN, such as carbon impurities and antisite defects, reveal a hybridization with graphene p$_{rm z}$ states, leading to midgap state formation. The induced midgap states modify the transport properties of graphene and can be reproduced by means of a simple effective tight-binding model. In contrast to carbon defects, it is found that oxygen defects do not strongly hybridize with graphenes low-energy states. Instead, oxygen drastically modifies the band gap of graphene, which emerges in a commensurate stacking on h-BN lattices.
{it Ab initio} investigations of the full static dielectric response and Born effective charge of BN nanotubes (BN-NTs) have been performed for the first time using finite electric field method. It is found that the ionic contribution to the static dielectric response of BN-NTs is substantial and also that a pronounced chirality-dependent oscillation is superimposed on the otherwise linear relation between the longitudinal electric polarizability and the tube diameter ($D$), as for a thin dielectric cylinderical shell. In contrast, the transverse dielectric response of the BN-NTs resemble the behavior of a thin (non-ideal) conducting cylindrical shell of a diameter of $D+4$AA$ $, with a screening factor of 2 for the inner electric field. The medium principal component $Z_y^*$ of the Born effective charge corresponding to the transverse atomic displacement tangential to the BN-NT surface, has a pronounced $D$-dependence (but independent of chirality), while the large longitudinal component $Z_z^*$ exhibits a clear chirality dependence (but nearly $D$-independent), suggesting a powerful way to characterize the diameter and chirality of a BN-NT.