Peierls transition and edge reconstruction in phosphorene nanoribbons

Atomic and electronic structures of phosphorene nanoribbons are studied within density functional theory. These novel materials present different physical phenomena expected in two very different physical systems: one dimensional metallic chains and semiconductor surfaces. While rugged' nanoribbons are semiconducting in their layer-terminnated structures, pure linear’ and `zigzag’ nanoribbons are metallic due to metallic edge states. Linear nanoribbons undergo edge reconstruction and zigzag nanoribbons beyond a certain width undergo Peierls transition leading to opening of a band gap in the electronic structure and lowering of total energy. Mixed nanoribbons with linear and zigzag edges on the two sides turn out to be a curious case that display both edge reconstruction and Peierls transition simultaneously. Most phosphoeren nanoribbons turn out to be semiconductors having important implications for their application.