Strain engineering Graphene Nanoribbons by Scanning Probe Manipulation

Abstract

The twodimensional material graphene features some unprecedented conductance properties, and is shaping up to become an important material in nanoelectronics. However, electronic components like transistors and diodes require a finite band gap to function, something that is absent in graphene. An approach to resolve this is to confine graphene into narrow strips called graphene nanoribbons. It has been found that strain and deformations can affect the electronic structure of graphene. Despite some theoretical efforts, it is not yet known experimentally what the impact of deformations on graphene nanoribbons is. We have used a scanning tunneling microscope to bend nanoribbons and find that the band gap of nanoribbons slightly diminishes with curvature, by approximately 1.5 percent nm per degree.