Fully spin-dependent transport of triangular graphene flakes

TL;DR

This study uses first-principles calculations to explore how triangular graphene flakes with boron nitride surroundings exhibit spin-dependent transport, revealing potential for electrical spin control.

Contribution

It demonstrates that BNC structures enable fully spin-dependent transport and magnetic properties in graphene flakes, offering new avenues for spintronic device design.

Findings

Small graphene flakes have large magnetic moments.

BNC structures show perfect spin polarization near the Fermi level.

Spin-polarized charge density accumulates at graphene edges.

Abstract

The magnetic moment and spin-polarized electron transport properties of triangular graphene flakes surrounded by boron nitride sheets (BNC structures) are studied by using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory. Their dependence on the BNC structure is discussed, revealing that small isolated graphene flakes have large magnetic moment. When the BNC structure is suspended between graphene electrodes, the spin-polarized charge density distribution accumulates at the edge of the graphene flakes and no spin polarization is observed in the graphene electrodes. We also found that the BNC structure demonstrates perfectly spin-polarized transport properties in the wide energy window around the Fermi level. Our first-principles results indicate that the BNC structure provides new possibilities to electrically control spin.