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Curved Graphene Nanoribbons: Structure and Dynamics of Carbon Nanobelts
Carbon nanoribbons (CNRs) are graphene (planar) structures with large aspect
ratio. Carbon nanobelts (CNBs) are small graphene nanoribbons rolled up into
spiral-like structures, i. e., carbon nanoscrolls (CNSs) with large aspect
ratio. In this work we investigated the energetics and dynamical aspects of
CNBs formed from rolling up CNRs. We have carried out molecular dynamics
simulations using reactive empirical bond-order potentials. Our results show
that similarly to CNSs, CNBs formation is dominated by two major energy
contribution, the increase in the elastic energy due to the bending of the
initial planar configuration (decreasing structural stability) and the
energetic gain due to van der Waals interactions of the overlapping surface of
the rolled layers (increasing structural stability). Beyond a critical diameter
value these scrolled structures can be even more stable (in terms of energy)
than their equivalent planar configurations. In contrast to CNSs that require
energy assisted processes (sonication, chemical reactions, etc.) to be formed,
CNBs can be spontaneously formed from low temperature driven processes. Long
CNBs (length of 30.0 nm) tend to exhibit self-folded racket-like
conformations with formation dynamics very similar to the one observed for long
carbon nanotubes. Shorter CNBs will be more likely to form perfect scrolled
structures. Possible synthetic routes to fabricate CNBs from graphene membranes
are also addressed
New Numerical Results Indicate a Half-Filling SU(4) Kondo State in Carbon Nanotubes
Numerical calculations simulate transport experiments in carbon nanotube
quantum dots (P. Jarillo-Herrero et al., Nature 434, 484 (2005)), where a
strongly enhanced Kondo temperature T_K ~ 8K was associated with the SU(4)
symmetry of the Hamiltonian at quarter-filling for an orbitally
double-degenerate single-occupied electronic shell. Our results clearly suggest
that the Kondo conductance measured for an adjacent shell with T_K ~ 16K,
interpreted as a singlet-triplet Kondo effect, can be associated instead to an
SU(4) Kondo effect at half-filling. Besides presenting spin-charge Kondo
screening similar to the quarter-filling SU(4), the half-filling SU(4) has been
recently associated to very rich physical behavior, including a
non-Fermi-liquid state (M. R. Galpin et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 186406
(2005)).Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure
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