Strain Effects on Electronic Properties of Boron Nitride Nanoribbons

We investigate the strain effects on the electronic properties of boron nitride nanoribbons (BNNRs) by using first-principles calculations. The results show that the energy gap of BNNRs with both armchair edges (A-BNNRs) and zigzag edges (Z-BNNRs) decreases as the strain increases. As strain increases, the energy gaps of Z-BNNRs decrease rapidly as the width increases and reduce significantly to small values, which makes Z-BNNRs change from wide-gap to narrow-gap semiconductors.