Comprehensive calculations of the Rh decoration effect on zigzag CNTs with n ranging from 7 to 12 were conducted in this work to understand the effect of Rh doping on geometric structures and electronic behaviors upon metallic and semiconducting CNTs. The obtained results indicated that Rh dopant not only contributes to the deformation of C-C bonds on the sidewall of CNTs, but also transforms the electron distribution of related complexes, thereby leading to a remarkable increase of the conductivity of pure CNTs given the emerged novel state within the energy gap for metallic CNTs and the narrowed energy gap for semiconducting CNTs. Our calculations will be meaningful for exploiting novel CNT-based materials with better sensitivity to electrons and higher electrical conductivity compared with pure CNTs.

Abstract
 Introduction
 2. Computational details
 3. Results and discussion
  3.1 Analysis of geometry comparison betweenintrinsic and Rh decorated CNTs
  3.2 Analysis of density of state comparisonbetween intrinsic and Rh decorated CNTs
 4. Conclusions
 References

• Hao Cui(State Key Laboratory of Power Transmission Equipment & System Security and New Technology, Chongqing University)
• Xiaoxing Zhang(State Key Laboratory of Power Transmission Equipment & System Security and New Technology, Chongqing University, School of Electrical Engineering, Wuhan University) Corresponding Author
• Yongjian Zhou(State Key Laboratory of Power Transmission Equipment & System Security and New Technology, Chongqing University)
• Jun Zhang(State Key Laboratory of Power Transmission Equipment & System Security and New Technology, Chongqing University)