First-Principles Study on Al or/and P Doped SiC Nanotubes

The stability and electronic structures of Al or/and P doped single-walled SiC nanotubes (SWSiCNTs) are investigated by the first-principles theory. It is found that the ones with P atom located at Si site are most energetically favorable both for armchair and zigzag SWSiCNTs, which means that P atom is prone to substitute Si atom. In the same time, we found that the formation energy of Al substituting Si atom is lower than that of Al substituting C atom. The energetic disadvantages of P or Al atom located at C site in SWSiCNTs may be due to the obviously structural distortion in view of that the Al and P atoms are much bigger than C atom. The SWSiCNTs can be routinely modified ranging from p -type semiconductor to n -type by Al and P substitution doping. These results are expected to give valuable information in building nanoscale electronic devices.