2001/04/30 by Prasenjit Sen, S. Ciraci, S. Çiraci +3 · 1 citation
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Graphene research and applications #Molecular Junctions and Nanostructures #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.64.195420
modified detailed version, one new structure added, 4 figures, modified figure1, 1 table
arxiv created 2001/06/20 · openalex publication_date 2001/10/30 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
First-principles density-functional calculations reveal that aluminum can form planar chains in zigzag and ladder structures. The most stable one has equilateral triangular geometry with four nearest neighbors; the other stable zigzag structure has wide bond angle and allows for two nearest neighbors. An intermediary structure has the ladder geometry and is formed by two strands. While all these planar geometries are more favored energetically than the linear chain, the binding becomes even stronger in nonplanar geometries. We found that by going from bulk to a chain the character of bonding changes and acquires directionality. The conductance of zigzag and linear chains is 4e2/h under ideal ballistic conditions.