Electronic spectra, topological states, and impurity effects in graphene nanoribbons

Abstract

We consider the finite ribbons of graphene with two principal orientations, zigzag and armchair, of their edges to study in detail impurity effects on their edge states. An alternative to the known description of quasiparticle states in terms of transversal standing waves is proposed in the recurrence relations for their spectra vs discrete numbers of atomic chains in the ribbon, permitting to simplify the Green function approach to the disorder effects in these systems. The derived analysis shows the microscopic mechanisms of perturbation by different types of impurities on low energy states and clarifies how the stability of topological states in zigzag systems to disorder is related to the discrete amplitudes of these states across the ribbon. An opposite possibility for Mott localization under local impurity perturbations is found for armchair type nanoribbons but at special values of their width.