Using first-principles calculations, we study the work function of single wall silicon carbide nanotube (SiCNT). The work function is found to be highly dependent on the tube chirality and diameter. It increases with decreasing the tube diameter. The work function of zigzag SiCNT is always larger than that of armchair SiCNT. We reveal that the difference between the work function of zigzag and armchair SiCNT comes from their different intrinsic electronic structures, for which the singly degenerate energy band above the Fermi level of zigzag SiCNT is specifically responsible. Our finding offers potential usages of SiCNT in field-emission devices.
We report ab initio calculations of the transport behavior of a phenyl substituted molecular motor. The calculated results show that the transport behavior of the device is sensitive to the rotation degree of the rotor part. When the rotor part is parallel with the stator part, a better rectifying performance can be found in the current-voltage curve. However, when the rotor part revolves to vertical with the stator part, the currents in the positive bias region decrease slightly. More importantly, the rectifying performance disappears. Thus this offers us a new method to modulate the rectifying behavior in molecular devices.
Based on the non-equilibrium Green's function method combined with the density functional theory, we investigate the transport properties of a zigzag trigonal graphene flake (zTGF) adsorbed by a single atom (F or H) or a single group (OH or CH3) at the central site and connected to two symmetric Au electrodes by Au-S bonds. The results show that the OH adsorption can enhance the conductance, followed by the negative differential resistance effects, while the conductance for the zTGF adsorbed by H and CH3 is lowered obviously, and rectifying characteristics can be observed for the H-adsorbed system. The adsorbing action alters the molecular level position and the spatial distribution of the molecular orbital, leading to different transport properties.
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