Effect of room temperature lattice vibration on the electron transport in graphene nanoribbons

Abstract

We observe directly the lattice vibration and its multifold effect on electron transport in zigzag graphene nanoribbons in simulation by utilizing an efficient combined method. The results show that the electron transport fluctuates greatly due to the incessant lattice vibration of the nanoribbons. More interestingly, the lattice vibration behaves like a double-edged sword that it boosts the conductance of symmetric zigzag nanoribbons (containing an even number of zigzag chains along the width direction) while weakens the conductance of asymmetric nanoribbons. As a result, the reported large disparity between the conductances of the two kinds of nanoribbons at 0 K is in fact much smaller at room temperature (300 K). We also find that the spin filter effect that exists in perfect two-dimensional symmetric zigzag graphene nanoribbons is destroyed to some extent by lattice vibrations. Since lattice vibrations or phonons are usually inevitable in experiments, the research is very meaningful for revealing the important role of lattice vibrations play in the electron transport properties of two-dimensional materials and guiding the application of ZGNRs in reality.