Conductance of Buckled N = 5 Armchair Graphene Nanoribbons

Electromechanical coupling in graphene nanoribbons has been the focus of much basic research. Although ab initio methods have been used to compute the current-voltage characteristics of deformed nanoribbons, analytical models that embody fundamental quantum electron transmission concepts are needed to support the conceptual design of new nanoelectromechanical devices. Numerical analysis of the conduction properties of buckled armchair graphene nanoribbons indicates that, consistent with experiment, the bending effects on current flow in rippled nanoribbons are determined by an integral measure of the total rotation along the conductor, which accounts for scattering effects accumulated along the entire transport path. The modeling results provide the first general description of both length and bending effects on current flow in semiconducting nanowires.