First-principles study of the electronic transport properties of the carbon nanobuds

We have investigated the electronic transport properties of the carbon nanobuds (CNBs) with different configurations using the first-principles density functional-based non-equilibrium Green's function method. Our results show that the electron transmission is significantly reduced in the whole energy range due to the strong back-scattering induced by the localized states in the bud region for both considered structures. However, CNBs do not change the metallic/semiconducting characteristics of their pristine single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) base. Meantime, the charge distribution can extend from the tube to the bud region, which can enhance the cold electron field emission. We believe that CNBs are one of good candidates for nanoelectronics and will be useful in the near future.