Nano-sensors based on nanotubes: Deformed-nanotubes transport

We present electronic transport calculations for carbon nanotubes under mechanical deformations. Using a four-orbital per atom tight-binding model, first the relaxed configurations of a (6,6) metallic, a (10,0) semiconducting, and a (6,6)-(10,0) metal-semiconductor kink structure, at different bending angles, are obtained. The optimized structures are then used in calculating conductance and current-voltage characteristics of the systems. These results are used to establish a correspondence between the mechanical deformation and transport properties, with potential applications in, e.g., nanosensors.