Abstract:
The structural and energetic properties of single-walled carbon nanotube
junctions have been investigated theoretically. These junctions occur at the interface
between two zigzag nanotubes having different diameters. One segment of the fused
nanotube is fixed to the (5, 0) configuration, while the other segment is varied from (6,
0) to (10, 0).Practically, the junctions are constructed by inserting pentagon-heptagon
(5/7) pair topological defects into the perfect hexagonal lattice. The study shows that
the (5/7) pair defects are responsible for changing the electronic behavior of the
proposed structure. HOMO and LUMO levels exhibit the even-odd quantum size
oscillations which are functions of the diameter and the length of carbon nanotube
junction. The energy gap indicates metallic or semi conducting behavior depending on
both tube indices and tubule length. The low energy gap is the evidence that (5, 0)// (9,
0) 3UC SWCNTJ is a metallic tube. Furthermore, carbon nanotubes may be designed
as a molecular rectifier by using donor and acceptor molecular sub-unit connected by a
spacer. It shows that the (5, 0)// (7, 0)3UC tube can be a possible structure of
molecular rectifier diode because the HOMO energy level of donor, spacer and
acceptor are sufficiently close to one another and the potential difference across the
region is 0.199 eV. Therefore a single electron can travel from one side to another
side.