Electronic States and Local Density of States in Graphene with a Corner Edge Structure

TL;DR

This paper investigates electronic states in graphene with various corner edge structures, revealing the presence or absence of edge localized states depending on the corner geometry, using numerical and analytical methods.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of edge localized states in graphene corners, combining numerical LDOS calculations with effective mass theory to explain their stability.

Findings

Edge localized states appear along zigzag edges except for the 120° corner.

The LDOS analysis aligns with the effective mass theory predictions.

Corner geometry critically influences the stability of zero-energy edge states.

Abstract

We study electronic states of semi-infinite graphene with a corner edge, focusing on the stability of edge localized states at zero energy. The 60{\deg}, 90{\deg}, 120{\deg} and 150{\deg} corner edges are examined. The 60{\deg} and 120{\deg} corner edges consist of two zigzag edges, while 90{\deg} and 150{\deg} corner edges consist of one zigzag edge and one armchair edge. We numerically obtain the local density of states (LDOS) on the basis of a nearest-neighbor tight-binding model by using Haydock's recursion method. We show that edge localized states appear along a zigzag edge of each corner edge structure except for the 120{\deg} case. To provide insight into this behavior, we analyze electronic states at zero energy within the framework of an effective mass equation. The result of this analysis is consistent with the behavior of the LDOS.