2004/10/31 by R. T. Senger, S. Dag, S. Dağ +2
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Graphene research and applications #Molecular Junctions and Nanostructures #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.93.196807
published as Physical Review Letters 93, 196807 (2004) · Figures provided in eps format
openalex publication_date 2004/11/05 · arxiv created 2005/05/13 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Based on first-principles calculations we show that gold atoms can form both freestanding and tip-suspended chiral single-wall nanotubes composed of helical atomic strands. The freestanding, infinite (5,5) tube is found to be energetically the most favorable. While energetically less favorable, the experimentally observed (5,3) tube stretching between two tips corresponds to a local minimum in the string tension. Similarly, the (4,3) tube is predicted as a favorable structure yet to be observed experimentally. Analysis of band structure, charge density, and quantum ballistic conductance suggests that the current on these wires is less chiral than expected, and there is no direct correlation between the numbers of conduction channels and helical strands.