Ultra-narrow metallic armchair graphene nanoribbons.

ABSTRACT: Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs)-narrow stripes of graphene-have emerged as promising building blocks for nanoelectronic devices. Recent advances in bottom-up synthesis have allowed production of atomically well-defined armchair GNRs with different widths and doping. While all experimentally studied GNRs have exhibited wide bandgaps, theory predicts that every third armchair GNR (widths of N=3m+2, where m is an integer) should be nearly metallic with a very small bandgap. Here, we synthesize the narrowest possible GNR belonging to this family (five carbon atoms wide, N=5). We study the evolution of the electronic bandgap and orbital structure of GNR segments as a function of their length using low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy and density-functional theory calculations. Already GNR

SUBMITTER: Kimouche A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4682157 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature