First-principles calculations on the structure and electronic properties of boron doping zigzag single-walled carbon nanotubes

Abstract

Calculations have been made for single-walled zigzag (n, 0) carbon nanotubes containing substitutional boron impurity atoms using ab initio density functional theory. It is found that the formation energies of these nanotubes depend on the tube diameter, as do the electronic properties, and show periodic feature that results from their different π bonding structures compared to those of perfect zigzag carbon nanotubes. When more boron atoms are incorporated into a single-walled zigzag carbon nanotube, the substitutional boron atoms tend to come together to form structure of BC3 nanodomains, and B-doped tubes have striking acceptor states above the top of the valence bands. For the structure of BC3, there are two kinds of configurations with different electronic structures.