First-principles study of the transport behavior of zigzag graphene nanoribbons tailored by strain

The charge transport properties of zigzag graphene nanoribbons (ZGNRs) under uniaxial and shear strains are theoretically studied. Although all strained ZGNRs have similar metallic band structures, they show four types of transport behavior under bias voltages that depend on the type of strain and the mirror symmetry of the ZGNR. Under an applied uniaxial strain, the current of symmetric ZGNRs is consistently small, while for asymmetric ZGNRs it is large. In contrast, the current increases with increasing shear strain for symmetric ZGNRs while it decreases for asymmetric ZGNRs. The current properties merge when the shear strain exceeds a critical value, and the two systems then show similar behavior. Our results suggest that strained ZGNRs with an appropriate applied shear are ideal conducting wires.