Boron/nitrogen pairs Co-doping in metallic carbon nanotubes: a first-principle study

Abstract

By using the first-principles calculations, the electronic structure and quantum transport properties of metallic carbon nanotubes with B/N pairs co-doping have been investigated. It is shown that the total energies of metallic carbon nanotubes are sensitive to the doping sites of the B/N pairs. The energy gaps of the doped metallic carbon nanotubes decrease with decreasing the concentration of the B/N pair not only along the tube axis but also around the tube. Moreover, the I—V characteristics and transmissions of the doped tubes are studied. Our results reveal that the conducting ability of the doped tube decreases with increasing the concentrations of the B/N pairs due to symmetry breaking of the system. This fact opens a new way to modulate band structures of metallic carbon nanotubes by doping B/N pair with suitable concentration and the novel characteristics are potentially useful in future applications.