Wave functions and edge states in rectangular honeycomb lattices revisited: nanoflakes, armchair and zigzag nanoribbons and nanotubes

Abstract

Properties of bulk and boundaries of materials can, in general, be quite different, both for topological and non-topological reasons. One of the simplest boundary problems to pose is the tight-binding problem of noninteracting electrons on a finite honeycomb lattice. Despite its simplicity, the problem is quite rich and directly related to the physics of graphene. We revisit this long-studied problem and present an analytical derivation of the electron spectrum and wave functions for graphene rectangular derivatives. We provide an exact analytical description of extended and localized states, the transition between them, and a special case of a localized state when the wave function is nonzero only at the edge sites. The later state has zero energy, we discuss its existence in zigzag nanoribbons, zigzag nanotubes with number of sites along a zigzag edge divisible by 4, and rectangular graphene nanoflakes with an odd number of sites along both zigzag and armchair edges.