Electronic and magnetic properties of tripentaphene nanoribbons

Tripentaphenes (TPHs) are theoretically proposed two-dimensional nanocarbons resulting from the assembly of acepentalene-like units. They exhibit a metallic behavior, as well as chemical resonance mechanisms governing their structural properties. Here we computationally and theoretically investigate the electronic properties emerging from quantum confinement when TPHs are cut into nanoribbons. We use density functional theory to investigate the influence of edge chirality and width on the electronic properties of tripentaphene nanoribbons that are fully edge passivated with hydrogen. We show that these systems are usually metallic with frontier states spread over the inner region of the structure. We also find a number of semiconducting and half-metallic systems related to the presence of spin-polarized states. These findings are meaningful to understand the relationship between physical properties and details of the atomic structure on TPH nanoribbons that can be tuned for targeted applications in nanoelectronics and spintronics.