Tuning field-induced energy gap of bilayer graphene via interlayer spacing.

Our first-principles calculations reveal surprisingly high sensitivity of the field-induced energy gap of bilayer graphene to changes in its interlayer spacing. Small adjustments in the interlayer spacing near its equilibrium value produce large modulations in the gap over a wide range of field strength. We elucidate the mechanism for the extremely effective gap tuning by examining the interlayer charge redistribution driven by the coupled electric field and nanomechanical effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]