Zipping and unzipping of nanoscale carbon structures

We demonstrate theoretically that hydrogenation and annealing applied to nanoscale carbon structures play a crucial role in determining the final shape of the system. In particular, graphene flakes characterized by the linear and non-hydrogenated zigzag or armchair edges have high propensity to merge into a bigger flake or a nanotube (the formation of a single carbon-carbon bond lowers the total energy of the system by up to 6.22 eV). Conversely, the line of the $sp^2$ carbon bonds (common for pure carbon structures such as graphene or a carbon nanotube) converted into the $sp^3$ type by hydrogenation shows an ability to disassemble the original structure by cutting it along the line of the modified bonds. These structural transformations provide us with an understanding of the behavior of mobile carbon structures in solution and a distinct scenario of how to preserve the original structure which would be a crucial issue for their application in carbon-based electronics.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Sustained ferromagnetism induced by H-vacancies in graphane

The electronic and magnetic properties of graphane with H-vacancies are investigated with the help of quantum-chemistry methods. The hybridization of the edges is found to be absolutely crucial in defining the size of the bandgap, which is increased from 3.04 eV to 7.51 eV when the hybridization is changed from the sp^2 to the sp^3 type. The H-vacancy defects also influence the size of the gap depending on the number of defects and their distribution between the two sides of the graphane plane. Further, the H-vacancy defects induced on one side of the graphane plane and placed on the neighboring carbon atoms are found to be the source of ferromagnetism which is distinguished by the high stability of the state with a large spin number in comparison to that of the singlet state and is expected to persist even at room temperatures. However, the ferromagnetic ordering of the spins is obtained to be limited by the concentration of H-vacancy defects and ordering would be preserved if number of defects do not exceed eight.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl