Electronic properties of α-graphyne nanoribbons under the electric field effect

In this paper, we investigate the electronic structure of both armchair and zigzag alpha-graphyne nanoribbons. We use a simple tight binding model to study the variation of the electronic band gap in alpha-graphyne nanoribbon. The effects of ribbon width, transverse electric field and edge shape on the electronic structure have been studied. Our results show that in the absence of external electric field, zigzag alpha-graphyne nanoribbons are semimetal and the electronic band gap in armchair alpha-graphyne nanoribbon oscillates and decreases with ribbon's width. By applying an external electric field the band gap in the electronic structure of zigzag alpha-graphyne nanoribbon opens and oscillates with ribbon width and electric field magnitude. Also the band gap of armchair alpha-graphyne nanoribbon decreases in low electric field, but it has an oscillatory growth behavior for high strength of external electric field. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.