One-dimensional moiré engineering in zigzag graphene nanoribbons on <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>h</mml:mi> <mml:mtext>−</mml:mtext> <mml:mi>BN</mml:mi> </mml:math>
We study the structural relaxation and electronic properties of a one-dimensional (1D) moiré system composed of a zigzag graphene nanoribbon (GNR) placed on a hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) substrate. Using an effective grid model derived from continuum elasticity theory, we calculate the relaxed atomic structure of the GNR/hBN system for various twist angles and ribbon widths. The relaxation gives rise to a characteristic 1D domain structure consisting of alternating commensurate AB$'$ regions and two distinct types of domain boundaries. At finite twist angles, the ribbon adopts a wavy shape, locally tracing the hBN zigzag direction but occasionally sliding to adjacent atomic rows. The resulting moiré potential strongly modulates the electronic structure: the zero-energy zigzag edge states are modulated by the local stacking, leading to densely packed subbands in the AB$'$ domains and sharply localized domain-wall states in the energy gaps between domain plateaus, which together realize gate-tunable one-dimensional arrays of quantum-confined electronic states. Our results demonstrate that moiré modulation in GNR/hBN heterostructures provides a versatile platform for electronic structure engineering and the design of 1D moiré nanodevices.
Authors
- Naoto Nakatsuji (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-6793-2551)
- Takuto Kawakami (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1563-9232)
- Mikito Koshino (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5911-7532)
Institutions
- Osaka Prefectural Toyonaka Support School (JP)
- Stony Brook University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical review. B./Physical review. B
- Published
- 2026-02-18
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/zj8h-tt7c
- Primary Topic
- Graphene research and applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00