Structure of aluminum atomic chains

Abstract

First-principles density functional calculations reveal that aluminum can form planar chains in zigzag and ladder structures. The most stable one has equilateral triangular geometry with four nearest neighbors; the other stable zigzag structure has wide bond angle and allows for two nearest neighbors. An intermediary structure has the ladder geometry and is formed by two strands. All these planar geometries are, however, more favored energetically than the linear chain. We found that by going from bulk to a chain the character of bonding changes and acquires directionality. The conductance of zigzag and linear chains is 4e^2/h under ideal ballistic conditions.

modified detailed version, one new structure added, 4 figures, modified figure1, 1 table

Cited by in corpus (15)

• Two and one-dimensional honeycomb structures of silicon and germanium
• Quantum properties of atomic-sized conductors
• Ab-initio transport properties of nanostructures from maximally-localized Wannier functions
• Systematic {\it ab initio} study of the magnetic and electronic properties of all 3d transition metal linear and zigzag nanowires
• Long ranged interactions in carbon atomic chains
• Pentagonal nanowires: a first-principles study of atomic and electronic structure
• Metal nanoring and tube formation on carbon nanotubes
• Stability of conductance oscillations in monatomic sodium wires
• Structural and electronic properties of Al nanowires: an ab initio pseudopotential study
• Theoretical study of Ga-based nanowires and the interaction of Ga with single-wall carbon nanotubes
• First-Principles Study on Peierls Instability in Infinite Single-Row Al Wires
• Para to Ortho transition of metallic dimers on Si(001)
• Metallic atomic wires on a patterned dihydrogeneted Si(001)
• Peierls Instability and Electron-Phonon Coupling in a One-dimensional Sodium Wire
• Relation between the strength and dimensionality of defect-free carbon crystals