Electronic and structural properties of ultrathin tungsten nanowires and nanotubes by density functional theory calculation

Abstract

The simulated annealing basin-hopping method incorporating the penalty function was used to predict the lowest-energy structures for ultrathin tungsten nanowires and nanotubes of different sizes. These predicted structures indicate that tungsten one-dimensional structures at this small scale do not possess B.C.C. configuration as in bulk tungsten material. In order to analyze the relationship between multi-shell geometries and electronic transfer, the electronic and structural properties of tungsten wires and tubes including partial density of state and band structures which were determined and analyzed by quantum chemistry calculations. In addition, in order to understand the application feasibility of these nanowires and tubes on nano-devices such as field emitters or chemical catalysts, the electronic stability of these ultrathin tungsten nanowires was also investigated by density functional theory calculations.