Geometry, Energy, and Some Electronic Properties of Carbon Polyprismanes: Ab Initio and Tight-Binding Study

We report geometry, energy, and some electronic properties of [n,4]- and [n,5]prismanes (polyprismanes): a special type of carbon nanotubes constructed from dehydrogenated cycloalkane C4- and C5-rings, respectively. Binding energies, interatomic bonds, and the energy gaps between the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) have been calculated using density functional approach and nonorthogonal tight-binding model for the systems up to thirty layers. It is found that polyprismanes become more thermodynamically stable as their effective length increases. Moreover, they may possess semiconducting properties in the bulk limit.