First-Principles Study on Electron-Conduction Properties of Helical Gold Nanowires

TL;DR

This study uses first-principles calculations to explore the electron conduction and magnetic properties of multishell helical gold nanowires, revealing their potential as nanoscale solenoids with unique conduction channels.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed theoretical analysis of electron conduction and magnetic field induction in helical gold nanowires, highlighting their novel properties.

Findings

Conductance channels are fewer than in single-atom-row nanowires.

Thin HGNs induce magnetic fields due to helical electron flow.

Results verify recent experimental observations.

Abstract

Multishell helical gold nanowires (HGNs) suspended between semi-infinite electrodes are found to exhibit peculiar electron-conduction properties by first-principles calculations based on the density functional theory. Our results that the numbers of conduction channels in the HGNs and their conductances are smaller than those expected from a single-atom-row nanowire verify the recent experiment. In addition, we obtained a more striking result that in the cases of thin HGNs, distinct magnetic fields are induced by the electron current helically flowing around the shells. This finding indicates that the HGNs can be good candidates for nanometer-scale solenoids.