Transport properties of boron/nitrogen/phosphorus binary doped graphene nanoribbons: An ab initio study

We apply a density functional theory (DFT) and DFT-based non-equilibrium Green's function approach to study the electronic and transport properties of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) co-doped with boron-nitrogen, nitrogen-phosphorus and boron-phosphorus. We analyze the structures and charge transport properties of co-doped GNRs and particularly focus on the novel effects that are absent for the single N-, B-, or P-doped GNRs. It is found that co-doped GNRs tend to be doped at the edges and the electronic structures of co-doped GNRs are very sensitive to the doping sites. Also, in case of B-N and B-P co-doped GNRs, conductance dips of single-doped GNRs disappeared with the disappearance of localized states associated with doped atoms. This may lead to a possible method of band engineering of GNRs and benefit the design of graphene electronic devices.