Optical properties of graphene nanoribbons: the role of many-body effects

TL;DR

This study uses first-principles calculations to show that many-body effects are crucial for accurately describing the optical properties of graphene nanoribbons, highlighting the importance of excitons and geometric factors.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of how many-body effects influence the optoelectronic properties of armchair graphene nanoribbons, emphasizing the role of excitons and geometry.

Findings

Strongly bound excitons dominate optical spectra.

Optical properties depend on nanoribbon family and edge termination.

Many-body effects are essential for accurate energy gap predictions.

Abstract

We investigate from first principles the optoelectronic properties of nanometer-sized armchair graphene nanoribbons (GNRs). We show that many-body effects are essential to correctly describe both energy gaps and optical response. As a signature of the confined geometry, we observe strongly bound excitons dominating the optical spectra, with a clear family dependent binding energy. Our results demonstrate that GNRs constitute 1D nanostructures whose absorption and luminescence performance can be controlled by changing both family and edge termination.