Electronic transport in graphene nanoribbons with sublattice-asymmetric doping

Abstract

Recent experimental findings and theoretical predictions suggest that nitrogen-doped CVD-grown graphene may give rise to electronic band gaps due to impurity distributions which favour segregation on a single sublattice. Here we demonstrate theoretically that such distributions give rise to more complex behaviour in the presence of edges, where geometry determines whether electrons in the sample view the impurities as a gap-opening average potential or as scatterers. Zigzag edges give rise to the latter case, and remove the electronic bandgaps predicted in extended graphene samples. We predict that such behaviour will give rise to leakage near grain boundaries with a similar geometry or in zigzag-edged etched devices. Furthermore, we examine the formation of one-dimensional metallic channels at interfaces between different sublattice domains, which should be observable experimentally and offer intriguing waveguiding possibilities.

6 pages, 6 figures, published in PRB

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• Atomistic $T$-matrix theory of disordered 2D materials: Bound states, spectral properties, quasiparticle scattering, and transport
• Valley current generation using biased bilayer graphene dots
• Robust band gap and half-metallicity in graphene with triangular perforations
• From Kondo to local singlet state in graphene nanoribbons with magnetic impurities
• Sublattice Segregation of Hydrogen Adsorbates in Carbon Nanotubes
• Transport in armchair graphene nanoribbons and in ordinary waveguides