Parity conservation in electron-phonon scattering in zigzag graphene nanoribbon

In contrast with carbon nanotubes, the absence of translational symmetry (or periodical boundary condition) in the restricted direction of zigzag graphene nanoribbon removes the selection rule of subband number conservation. However, zigzag graphene nanoribbons with even dimers do have the inversion symmetry. We, therefore, propose a selection rule of parity conservation for electron-phonon interactions. The electron-phonon scattering matrix in zigzag graphene nanoribbons is developed using the tight-binging model within the deformation potential approximation. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.