Electronic transport in graphene nanoribbons with sublattice-asymmetric doping

Recent experimental findings and theoretical predictions suggest that nitrogen-doped CVD-grown graphene may give rise to electronic band gaps due to impurity distributions which favour segregation on a single sublattice. Here we demonstrate theoretically that such distributions give rise to more complex behaviour in the presence of edges, where geometry determines whether electrons in the sample view the impurities as a gap-opening average potential or as scatterers. Zigzag edges give rise to the latter case, and remove the electronic bandgaps predicted in extended graphene samples. We predict that such behaviour will give rise to leakage near grain boundaries with a similar geometry or in zigzag-edged etched devices. Furthermore, we examine the formation of one-dimensional metallic channels at interfaces between different sublattice domains, which should be observable experimentally and offer intriguing waveguiding possibilities.

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