Semiconducting graphene nanomeshes

TL;DR

This paper uses symmetry principles and first-principles calculations to identify graphene nanomesh structures that can reliably induce a semiconducting gap of about 0.5 eV under safe strain levels.

Contribution

It provides a symmetry-based framework for designing graphene nanomeshes with tunable semiconducting properties, supported by first-principles calculations.

Findings

Nanomeshes can induce ~0.5 eV gaps

Strain levels below graphene failure strain are sufficient

All nanomeshes have hexagonal Bravais lattice and specific space groups

Abstract

Symmetry arguments are used to describe all possible two-dimensional periodic corrugations of graphene ("nanomeshes") capable of inducing tangible semiconducting gap. Such nanomeshes or superlattices break the initial graphene translational symmetry in a way that produces mixing and subsequent splitting of the Dirac K and K' states. All of them have hexagonal Bravais lattice and are described by space groups that are subgroups of the graphene group. The first-principles calculations show that the gaps of about 0.5 eV can be induced at strains safely smaller than the graphene failure strain.