We report the effects of electron-lattice coupling on the charge density distribution study of armchair graphene nanoribbons (GNRs). Here, we perform a theoretical investigation explaining the unexpected electronic density states observed experimentally. By means of a tight-binding approach with electron-lattice coupling, we obtained the same characteristic pattern of charge density along the C-C bonds suggested by both scanning tunneling and transmission electron microscopic measurements. Our results suggest electronic localized states whose sizes are dependent on the GNR width. We also show that our model rescues the quasi-particle charge-transport mechanism in GNRs. The remarkable agreement with experimental evidence allows us to conclude that our model could be, in many aspects, a fundamental tool when it comes to the phenomenological understanding of the charge behavior in this kind of system.

The influence of the electron-phonon (e-ph) interactions on the filed-included polaron dynamics in armchair graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) is theoretically investigated in the scope of a two-dimensional tight-binding model. The results show that the localization of the polaronic charge increases when the strength of e-ph coupling also increases. Consequently, the polaron saturation velocity decreases for higher e-ph coupling strengths. Interestingly, the interplay between the e-ph coupling strength and the GNR width changes substantially the polaron dynamics properties.

The geometry configuration of charged armchair graphene nanoribbons (AGNRs) is theoretically investigated in the framework of a two-dimensional tight-binding model that includes lattice relaxation. Our findings show that the charge distribution and, consequently, the bond length pattern is dependent on the parity of the nanoribbon width. In this sense, the lattice distortions decrease smoothly for increasingly wider GNRs. As should be expected, AGNRs belonging to a particular family present similar patterns for the bond lengths. The interplay between the electron-phonon coupling and band gap is also investigated. The results show that the electron-phonon coupling strength is fundamental to promote the transition from metallic towards semiconducting-like behavior for the band gap. Most important, such strength is crucial on defining the degree of lattice distortions in AGNRs.

Effects of high-temperature annealing on the vibrational properties of strained GaAs1−xNx∕GaAs epilayers with x⩽0.037 have been studied by room-temperature backscattering Raman measurements. The reduction in the linear redshift of the LO1 line after the annealing, commonly related to strain relaxation, must be associated with the change in the plasma screening effect in our samples. For x<0.02, the linear tendency of the LO2 line frequency for as-grown samples remains unchanged after the annealing. However, that line frequency deviates from a polynomial behavior to a linear trend after the annealing for x>0.02. This change in behavior has been assigned to the reduction in N–N pairs and concomitantly to the increase in substitutional N promoted by the annealing.