Electronic density of states and optical spectra of zigzag SiC nanoribbons from first principles

The electronic and optical behavior of zigzag silicon carbide nanoribbons (ZSiCNRs) have been simulated exploiting density functional theory (DFT) formalism. Our results show that zigzag silicon nanoribbons (w = 14 to 20) have metallic behavior. The optical graphs confirm that epsilon(1x)(omega), epsilon(1y)(omega), n(x)(omega), and n(y)(omega) are less than that of the z polarization at energies below 2.5 eV. The static refractive index of ZSiCNRs is almost close to that of the other nanoribbons, except for the GNRs, which have a considerably larger static refractive index. Last but not least, the optical susceptibility shows that ZSiCNRs with larger width have a weaker polarization field which eventuates in lower optical susceptibility for the ZSiCNRs (w = 20).