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Electron transport through phenylene sandwiched between zigzag graphene nanoribbons

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Abstract

We study systematically the electron transport through a phenylene rotor with an axis of atomic carbon chain (CPC) connected to twofold symmetric electrodes of nonmagnetic zigzag graphene nanoribbons. The density functional theory combined with the nonequilibrium Green’s function method is employed for the simulation. The CPC rotor is conductive with parabolic I–V characteristic when its ring is coplanar with the electrodes. Its rotation modulates the symmetry of its electron states and their matching to the states in the electrodes. The I–V curve then becomes characterized by sharp peaks with strong negative differential resistance (NDR) in a large range of the rotation angle. The corresponding shift of transport modes in energy with the rotation opens a way to efficient and accurate manipulation of NDR.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant nos. 61674110, 91121021, 11747097, 61674022).

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Author notes

  1. A-Long Yaoa and Yao-Jun Dong contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, School of Physical Science and Technology, Soochow University, 1 Shizi Street, Suzhou, 215006, China

    A-Long Yao, Yao-Jun Dong & Xue-Feng Wang

  2. College of Physics and Engineering, Changshu Institute of Technology, Changshu, 215500, China

    Yao-Jun Dong & Yu-Shen Liu

  3. Key Laboratory of Terahertz Solid-State Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 865 Changning Road, Shanghai, 200050, China

    Xue-Feng Wang

Authors
  1. A-Long Yao
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  2. Yao-Jun Dong
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  3. Xue-Feng Wang
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  4. Yu-Shen Liu
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Correspondence to Xue-Feng Wang.

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Yao, AL., Dong, YJ., Wang, XF. et al. Electron transport through phenylene sandwiched between zigzag graphene nanoribbons. Appl Nanosci 9, 143–149 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-018-0918-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-018-0918-2

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