One-dimensional structural irregularities in graphene: Chiral edges and grain boundaries

Abstract

Many properties of graphene strongly depend on the presence of disorder and confinement effects. Using computational approaches based on model Hamiltonians and first-principles formalisms, we investigate the structure and electronic properties of chiral edges and grain boundaries in graphene. We show that magnetic edge states are inherent to low-symmetry graphene edges and exhibit a number of systematic structure-property relations. Certain grain boundary structures are shown to dramatically affect electronic transport in polycrystalline graphene by reflecting charge carriers in considerable energy ranges.