Structural and Electronic Properties of Graphane Nanoribbons

The structural and electronic properties of graphane nanoribbons, i.e., completely hydrogenated graphene nanoribbons, were investigated by means of density functional theory computations. Because all the carbon atoms are sp3-hybridized and saturated with hydrogen atoms, graphane nanoribbons present completely different electronic properties compared with graphene nanoribbons. Independent of the chirality, graphane nanoribbons are always wide-band-gap semiconductors. Graphane nanoribbons have favorable formation energies, and can be realized by hydrogenating graphene nanoribbons or cutting experimentally available graphanes. These one-dimensional hydrocarbons will find their potential applications to nanotechnology after further band structure tuning.