Correlated magnetic states in domain and grain boundaries in graphene

TL;DR

This study uses ab initio calculations to reveal that domain boundaries in graphene can host strongly confined, ferromagnetic states near the Fermi level, which are protected from reconstruction effects, unlike edge states.

Contribution

It demonstrates that domain boundaries in graphene can host stable, ferromagnetic states that are well-confined and protected, providing new insights into magnetic properties of defect structures.

Findings

Domain boundaries introduce strongly confined states near the Fermi level.

Domain boundary states exhibit ferromagnetic ground states.

Charge transfer between defects and bulk is short-ranged.

Abstract

Ab initio calculations indicate that while the electronic states introduced by grain boundaries in graphene are only partially confined to the defect core, a domain boundary introduces states near the Fermi level that are very strongly confined to the core of the defect, and that display a ferromagnetic ground state. The domain boundary is fully immersed within the graphene matrix, hence this magnetic state is protected from reconstruction effects that have hampered experimental detection in the case of ribbon edge states. Furthermore, our calculations suggest that charge transfer between one-dimensional extended defects and the bulk in graphene is short ranged for both grain and domain boundaries.