First Principles Analysis of Electron-Phonon Interaction in Graphene

TL;DR

This paper uses first-principles calculations to analyze electron-phonon interactions in graphene, revealing the importance of optical phonons and suggesting higher intrinsic mobility than previously reported.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive first-principles analysis of electron-phonon interactions in graphene, highlighting the significance of optical phonons at low energies.

Findings

Electron-phonon interaction strength is similar across all in-plane phonon branches.

Acoustic phonons contribute less to scattering than previously believed.

Predicted intrinsic mobility of graphene exceeds previous high estimates.

Abstract

The electron-phonon interaction in monolayer graphene is investigated by using density functional perturbation theory. The results indicate that the electron-phonon interaction strength is of comparable magnitude for all four in-plane phonon branches and must be considered simultaneously. Moreover, the calculated scattering rates suggest an acoustic phonon contribution that is much weaker than previously thought, revealing the role of optical phonons even at low energies. Accordingly it is predicted, in good agreement with a recent measurement, that the intrinsic mobility of graphene may be more than an order of magnitude larger than the high values reported in suspended samples.