Tuning magnetic properties of graphene nanoribbons with topological line defects: From antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic

Min Kan, Jian Zhou, Qiang Sun, Qian Wang, Yoshiyuki Kawazoe, and Puru Jena

Phys. Rev. B 85, 155450 – Published 25 April 2012

Abstract

Zigzag-edged graphene nanoribbons are antiferromagnetic in cross-edge coupling and unsuitable for spintronics applications. Two new strategies of tuning antiferromagnetism (AFM) to ferromagnetism (FM) in graphene nanoribbons are introduced through topological line defects composed of pentagonal and octagonal rings, and their ability to induce magnetic transition is probed by using density functional theory. The resulting exchange energy is found to be large enough for ferromagnetism to be observed at room temperature. Both strategies are experimentally feasible, and the results suggest that defect engineering may provide a novel path to manipulate the magnetic properties of graphene nanoribbons.

Received 22 October 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.85.155450

Authors & Affiliations

Min Kan^1,*, Jian Zhou^1,*, Qiang Sun^1,2,3,†, Qian Wang^2,3, Yoshiyuki Kawazoe⁴, and Puru Jena³

¹Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
²Center for Applied Physics and Technology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
³Department of Physics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia 23284, USA
⁴Institute for Material Research, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8577, Japan

^*The first two authors contributed equally to this work.
^†Corresponding author: sunqiang@pku.edu.cn

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Vol. 85, Iss. 15 — 15 April 2012

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