Electromechanical switch based on pentaheptite nanotubes

Abstract

Full symmetry of the nanotubes rolled up from pentaheptite carbon lattices along an arbitrary chiral vector is determined, and symmetry preserving relaxation of a large number of the simply rolled-up tubular structures is performed in order to assess stability and conducting properties of the pentaheptite nanotubes relative to the classical graphitic nanotubes. Density functional tight binding calculations are performed by full-symmetry implemented POLSYM code. The vast majority of pentaheptite nanotubes is found to be metallic having considerably higher electronic density of states at Fermi level than their metallic conventional counterparts. Pathway for synthesis of certain types of pentaheptite nanotubes directly from the conventional hexagonal nanotubes by putting them under uniaxial tension is proposed. Release of the strain goes through formation of double pentagon-heptagon pairs. The findings promise application as mechanically induced electrical switches. © 2007 The American Physical Society.