Driven flow with exclusion and transport in graphene-like structures

TL;DR

This paper extends the TASEP model to graphene-like structures such as nanotubes and nanoribbons, providing theoretical predictions and numerical verification of steady-state transport properties relevant for electronic applications.

Contribution

It introduces a mean-field theoretical framework for narrow ribbons and nanotubes, and compares these predictions with numerical simulations for various boundary conditions.

Findings

Steady state behavior similar to chains for specific configurations.

Excellent agreement between theory and numerical simulations.

Model applicability to electronic transport in nanostructures.

Abstract

The totally asymmetric simple exclusion process (TASEP), a well-known model in its strictly one-dimensional (chain) version, is generalized to cylinder (nanotube) and ribbon (nanoribbon) geometries. A mean-field theoretical description is given for very narrow ribbons ("necklaces"), and nanotubes. For specific configurations of bond transmissivity rates, and for a variety of boundary conditions, theory predicts equivalent steady state behavior between (sublattices on) these structures and chains. This is verified by numerical simulations, to excellent accuracy, by evaluating steady-state currents. We also numerically treat ribbons of general width. We examine the adequacy of this model to the description of electronic transport in carbon nanotubes and nanoribbons, or specifically-designed quantum dot arrays.