Armchair graphene nanoribbons under shear strain

Abstract The symmetry and electronic properties of armchair graphene nanoribbons (AGNRs) have been investigated using density functional theory calculations. For the shear strained AGNRs, the D6h (6/mmm) symmetry of the hexagonal lattice further turns into 2/m. The stability improves with increasing ribbon width under the same shear strain. Besides, the modification of the energy gap under shear strain is weak.