Crystal polarity discrimination in GaN nanowires on graphene

Abstract

We present experimental data and computational analysis of the formation of GaN nanowires on graphene virtual substrates. We show that GaN nanowires on graphene exhibit nitrogen polarity. We employ the DFT-based computational analysis to demonstrate that among different possible configurations of Ga and N atoms only the N-polar one is stable. We suggest that polarity discrimination occurs due to the dipole interaction between the GaN nanocrystal and π-orbitals of the graphene sheet.