Strong current polarization and perfect negative differential resistance in few-FeN4-embedded zigzag graphene nanoribbons. Issue 4 (9th January 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Li, Xiao-Fei; Liu, Lingling; Yan, Qing; Li, Qin-Kun; Wang, Yunxiang; Deng, Mingsen; Qiu, Qi
• Is Part Of: Physical chemistry chemical physics. Volume 19:Issue 4(2017)
• Page Start: 2674
• Page End: 2678
• Publication Date: 2017-01-09
• Subjects: Chemistry, Physical and theoretical -- Periodicals; 541.3
• DOI: 10.1039/c6cp08357a
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1463-9076

Abstract

Abstract : The FeN4 -embedded graphene nanoribbons possess intrinsic current polarization and negative differential resistance behaviours, the performance of which can be enhanced easily. Abstract : Ferromagnetic devices have special significance in spintronics. Here, we investigate the electronic structures and transport properties of the experimentally achievable FeN4 -embedded armchair and zigzag graphene nanoribbons (FeN4 -AGNR and FeN4 -ZGNR). The first principles results show that FeN4 induces room-temperature stable ferromagnetic ground states in both AGNRs and ZGNRs, but only significant changes in the band structure of the latter, inducing strong current polarization (nearly 100%) and spin-dependent negative differential resistance (NDR) in the FeN4 -ZGNR based devices. We find that the performance of the NDR can be easily enhanced by embedding more FeN4 structures. Its peak-to-valley current ratio (PVCR) rises rapidly and reaches 10 4 when only 4 FeN4 structures are used. It is revealed that the localized f electrons of the Fe atom and the p electrons of the C atoms at the ribbon edges have the same spin orientation, resulting in a ferromagnetic ground state with a larger magnetic moment, FeN4 induces conductive states around the Fermi level, which are responsible for the observed NDR, and the quite different conductivity of the frontier orbitals in the spin-down and spin-down systems contributes to the strong current polarization. Such intrinsic properties suggest prospective device applications of the FeN4 -ZGNRs in spintronics.