V. H. Crespi : Electronic Properties of Carbon Nanotubes @ Penn State Physics

A pentagon-heptagon defect in the tube wall converts the tube from semiconducting on one side to metallic on the other, a nanoscale Schottky diode.

Pristine carbon nanotubes can be metallic or semiconducting, depending precisely on how the graphene sheet has been wrapped up to form the tube. If the highest-energy electronic states of graphene can be wrapped seamlessly around the circumference of the tube, then the resulting tube is a metal. Otherwise, the phase of the electronic wavefunction must be twisted, and the resulting tube is a semiconductor. The electronic properties of an undoped carbon nanotube, particularly the metallic kind, are quite delicate and can be manipulated through topological, elastic, mechanical or chemical modification.

This research area provides opportunities for undergraduate research.

Publications

« 2001 · 2002 · 2003 · 2006 · 2007 · All

D. Stojkovic, P. E. Lammert and V. H. Crespi, "Electronic Bisection of a Single-Wall Carbon Nanotube by Controlled Chemisorption," Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 026802 (2007) Abstract/Comments

E. R. Margine and V. H. Crespi, "Universal behavior of nearly free electron states in carbon nanotubes," Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 196803 (2006) Abstract/Comments

G. Chen, S. Bandow, E. R. Margine, C. Nisoli, A. Kolmogorov, V. H. Crespi, R. Gupta, G. Sumanasekera, S. Iijima and P. C. Eklund, "Chemically Doped Double-Walled Carbon Nanotubes: Cylindrical Molecular Capacitors," Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 257403 (2003) Abstract/Comments

V. H. Crespi and P. Zhang, "Theory of B₂O and BeB₂ Nanotubes: New Semiconductors and Metals in One Dimension," Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 056403 (2002) Abstract/Comments

P. E. Lammert, V. H. Crespi and A. Rubio, "Stochastic Heterostructures and Diodium in B/N-doped Carbon Nanotubes," Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 136402 (2001) Abstract/Comments

P. E. Lammert and V. H. Crespi, "Geometrical Perturbation of Graphene Electronic Structure," Phys. Rev. B 61, 7308 – 7311 (2000) Abstract/Comments

P. E. Lammert and V. H. Crespi, "Gapping by Squashing:Metal-Insulator and Insulator-Metal Transitions in Carbon Nanotubes," Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 2453 – 2456 (2000) Abstract/Comments

M. S. Fuhrer, V. H. Crespi, M. L. Cohen and A. Zettl, "Localization in single-walled carbon nanotubes," Solid State Commun. 109, 105 – 107 (1999)

V. H. Crespi, A. Rubio and M. L. Cohen, "In-situ bandgap engineering in carbon nanotubes," Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 2093 – 2096 (1997) Abstract/Comments

V. H. Crespi, L. Chico, L. X. Benedict, S. G. Louie and M. L. Cohen, "Pure-carbon nanoscale devices: nanotube heterojunctions," Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 971 – 974 (1996) Abstract/Comments

L. X. Benedict, V. H. Crespi, S. G. Louie and M. L. Cohen, "Static conductivity and superconductivity of carbon nanotubes: relations between tubes and sheets," Phys. Rev. B 52, 14935 – 14939 (1995)

Packard Fellowship, David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Education and Research in Composite Nanotube Systems and Structural Energetics, National Science Foundation CAREER DMR-9876232
Nanoscale Carbon Structural Design, Research Corporation
Nanotube Networks, Petroleum Research Fund of the American Chemical Society
Control of Nanostructures Via Metal-Carbon Interactions Over Multiple Length, National Science Foundation NIRT DMR-0103585
Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, National Science Foundation DMR-0213623
Using Surface Interactions and Continuum Models to Develop New Modes of Nano-Device Operation, National Science Foundation CMS/NER-0404067
Theory of novel nanostructures: symmetry and surface interactions, National Science Foundation DMR-0305035
NIRT: Electronic and Mechanical Devices from Graphene Films, National Science Foundation ECS-0609243
Using and extending two newly developed multi-scale modeling methods to study novel nanodevice operations, National Science Foundation CMMI-0727890

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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