Clar-Kekule structuring in armchair carbon nanotubes.

Geometrical patterns on armchair nanotubes and their dependence on length (up to 10 nm) have been studied using first-principles methods. The results indicate that finite nanotubes do not show a uniform bond structure. The previous structural classification of armchair nanotubes in Clar, Kekule, and incomplete-Clar types becomes unified with lengthening, not in a bond-uniform structure, as PBC models report, but into an alternated sequence of Clar and Kekule domains in all cases, with possible mechanical and electronic consequences.