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First-Principles Study of Helical Silver Single-Wall Nanotubes and Nanowires
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2011
Abstract
We investigate the electronic structures of extended helical silver single-wall nanotubes (AgSWNTs). Because these helical nanotubes are essentially comprised of n-atom strands winding about the nanotube's axis, we systematically examine, strand by strand, the electronic properties and the number of conduction channels associated with these structures. Herein, we study a special case of high-symmetry nanotubes. Nanotubes with sufficiently large radii were also calculated with a silver atomic chain inserted along the nanotube's axis. The analysis is carried out within a first-principles, all-electron self-consistent local density functional approach (LDF) adapted for helical symmetry. Modeling helical silver (or gold) single-wall nanotubes entails rolling up a sheet of atoms and mapping the atoms onto the surface of a cylinder, comparable to rolling up a graphite sheet for a carbon nanotube. It is well known that controlling the size and shape of silver and gold nanostructures results in the ability to tailor the optical and catalytic properties of these materials. In this preliminary study, we consider changes in the electronic structures of these materials as each nanotube is built strand by strand.
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- Copyright © Materials Research Society 2006
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