Structural and electronic properties of aluminate nanotubes

Recently, lithium containing aluminate nanotubes have been synthesized by the surfactant templating method. However, their structural and electronic properties have not been clearly understood yet. In this work, using first-principles theoretical calculations, we present a stable tubular structure in the form of AlO$_{2}$, which is energetically stable with fewer strain energies, compared with MoS$_{2}$ nanotubes with similar diameters. All the AlO$_{2}$ nanotubes are metallic with pseudogaps, independent of chilality. For small diameter zigzag tubes, more electron conduction occurs through the outer O shell with longer Al-O bonds, while the whole tube wall contributes to electron conduction for large diameter tubes or armchair tubes, which have similar inner and outer Al-O bond lengths. We find that an AlO tubular form can be stabilized by hole doping.