Open AccessDirac cone move and bandgap on/off switching of graphene superlattice
Author(s) -
Tian Tian Jia,
Miao Zheng,
Xinyu Fan,
Yan Su,
Shu Juan Li,
Hai Ying Liu,
Gang Chen,
Yoshiyuki Kawazoe
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
scientific reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.24
H-Index - 213
ISSN - 2045-2322
DOI - 10.1038/srep18869
Subject(s) - superlattice , band gap , condensed matter physics , graphene , semimetal , degenerate energy levels , physics , dirac fermion , electronic band structure , dispersion relation , massless particle , materials science , quantum mechanics
Using the density functional theory with generalized gradient approximation, we have studied in detail the cooperative effects of degenerate perturbation and uniaxial strain on bandgap opening in graphene. The uniaxial strain could split π bands into π a and π z bands with an energy interval E s to move the Dirac cone. The inversion symmetry preserved antidot would then further split the π a (π z ) bands into π a1 (π z1 ) and π a2 (π z2 ) bands with an energy interval E d , which accounts for the bandgap opening in a kind of superlattices with Dirac cone being folded to Γ point. However, such antidot would not affect the semimetal nature of the other superlattices, showing a novel mechanism for bandstructure engineering as compared to the sublattice-equivalence breaking. For a superlattice with bandgap of ~E d opened at Γ point, the E s could be increased by strengthening strain to close the bandgap, suggesting a reversible switch between the high velocity properties of massless Fermions attributed to the linear dispersion relation around Dirac cone and the high on/off ratio properties associated with the sizable bandgap. Moreover, the gap width actually could be continuously tuned by controlling the strain, showing attractive application potentials.