A first-principles study on the electronic transport properties of zigzag graphane/graphene nanoribbons

Abstract

The electronic transport properties of hybrid nanoribbons constructed by substituting zigzag graphane nanoribbons (ZGaNRs) into zigzag graphene nanoribbons (ZGNRs) are investigated with the non-equilibrium Green’s function method and the density functional theory. Both symmetric and asymmetric ZGNRs are considered. The electronic transport of symmetric and asymmetric ZGNR-based hybrid nanoribbons behave distinctly differently from each other even in the presence of the same substitution positions of ZGaNRs. Moreover, the electronic transport of these hybrid systems is found to be enhanced or weakened compared with pristine ZGNRs depending on the substitution position and proportion. Our results suggest that such hybridization is an effective approach to modulate the transport properties of ZGNRs.