Reconstruction of mono-vacancies in carbon nanotubes: Atomic relaxation vs. spin polarization

We have investigated the reconstruction of mono-vacancies in carbon nanotubes using density functional theory (DFT) geometry optimization and electronic structure calculations, employing a numerical basis set. We considered mono-vacancies in achiral nanotubes with diameter range ≈4-9 Å. Contrary to previous tight-binding calculations, our results indicate that mono-vacancies could have several metastable geometries, confirming the previous plane-wave DFT results. Formation energy of mono-vacancies is 4.5-5.5eV, increasing with increasing tube diameter. Net magnetic moment decreases from ideal mono-vacancy value after reconstruction, reflecting the reduction of the number of dangling bonds. In spite of the existence of a dangling bond, ground state of mono-vacancies in semiconducting tubes have no spin polarization. Metallic carbon nanotubes show net magnetic moment for most stable structure of mono-vacancy, except for very small diameter tubes.