  The effects of tensile strain on the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of
hydrogenated-edge armchair graphene nanoribbons (HAGNRs) are investigated by
using DFT theory. The strain is introduced in two different ways related to the
two types of systems studied in this work: in-plane strained systems (A), and
out-of-plane strained systems due to bending (B). These two kinds of strain
lead to make a distinction among three cases: in-plane strained systems with
strained electrodes (A1) and with unstrained electrodes (A2), and out-of-plane
homogeneously strained systems with unstrained, fixed electrodes (B). The
systematic simulations to calculate the electronic transmission between two
electrodes were focused on systems of 8 and 11 dimers in width. The results
show that the differences between cases A2 and B are negligible, even though
the strain mechanisms are different: in the plane case, the strain is uniaxial
along its length, while in the bent case the strain is caused by the arc
deformation. Based on the study, a new type of NEMS-solid state switching
device is proposed.
