Graphene nanoribbons under mechanical strain.

Uniaxial strains are introduced into individual graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) with highly smooth edges to investigate the strain effects on Raman spectroscopic and electrical properties of GNRs. It is found that uniaxial strain downshifts the Raman G-band frequency of GNRs linearly and tunes their bandgap significantly in a non-monotonic manner. The strain engineering of GNRs is promising for potential electronics and photonics applications.