Effect of electric field on the electrical conductivity of defected carbon nanotube: Multifractal properties of the wavefunctions

A theoretical analysis of controllable metal-insulator transition is performed by carrying out a quantum chaos analysis for a single-walled carbon nanotube which is affected by topological Stone-Wales defect. Nanotubes have recently attracted attention as promising materials for flexible nanoelectronic devices. Individual topological Stone-Wales defects have been identified experimentally in carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene. The findings reveal that defected CNT displays a gradual crossover from metal to insulator phase in a longitudinal electric field. By determining the threshold value of the electric field for metal-insulator transition, CNT may be used as a switch in electronic devices. Our results are obtained by calculating the singularity spectrum of a nearest-neighbor tight-binding model. Also, quantum chaos theory is used for obtaining a detailed understanding of a dynamic phase transition from delocalized states (chaotic) to localized states (Poisson). More interestingly, the appearance of negative differential resistance for pure CNT suggests potential applications in nanoelectronic devices. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.