This letter shows that a moderate degree of edge disorder can explain the fact that the experimentally measured bandgaps of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) do not depend on orientation. We argue that GNRs actually behave similarly to Anderson insulators and the measured bandgaps should thus be interpreted as quasi-mobility edges. Calculations in the tight binding approach reveal that in the presence of edge disorder, quasi-mobility edge and electronic structures become independent of orientation and that quasi-mobility edge follows a quasi-universal law similar to experimental data, although with different parameters.
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Quasi-mobility edges (usually defined from the Fermi level to the bottom of extended states) are multiplied by two for direct comparisons with the bandgaps of perfect ribbons.