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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 July 2011
Recently, several experiments and theoretical studies demonstrated the possibility of tuning or modulating band gap values of nanostructures composed of bi-layer graphene, bi-layer hexagonal boron-nitride (BN) and hetero-layer combinations. These triple layers systems present several possibilities of stacking. In this work we report an ab initio (within the formalism of density functional theory (DFT)) study of structural and electronic properties of some of these stacked configurations. We observe that an applied external electric field can alter the electronic and structural properties of these systems. With the same value of the applied electric field the band gap values can be increased or decreased, depending on the layer stacking sequences. Strong geometrical deformations were observed. These results show that the application of an external electric field perpendicular to the stacked layers can effectively be used to modulate their inter-layer distances and/or their band gap values.