Eur. Phys. J. B 81, 121-125 (2011)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2011-10687-y

Stability and electronic properties of AlN nanotubes under the influence of external electric field

¹ Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Campus Universitrio, s/n, Caixa Postal 354, 96010-900, , s/n, Caixa Postal 354, 96010-900, Pelotas, RS, Brazil
² Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, CEP 58051-900 João Pessoa, PB, Brazil

Corresponding author: ^a marcelo.machado@ufpel.edu.br

Received: 8 September 2010
Revised: 25 January 2011
Published online: 8 April 2011

Abstract

Zigzag and armchair single-walled aluminum nitride nanotubes, with diameters ranging from 5 Å  to 15 Å, under the influence of perpendicular external electric fields, are studied using first-principle calculations. Through the analysis of the formation energy it is observed that tubes with larger diameters are energetically favored when compared to smaller ones. Also, it is shown that the electric fields up to 0.5 V/Å  have little influence on the stability of aluminum nitride nanotubes. Regarding the electronic structure, it was found that the larger the diameter of the tubes the greater the response to the electric field application, with a significant bandgap reduction up to 2.5 eV.