Tuning the electronic and magnetic properties of zigzag silicene nanoribbons by 585 defects

Using first-principles calculations, we study the geometric structures, formation energies, electronic and magnetic properties of zigzag silicene nanoribbons (ZSiNRs) with 585 defects. There are two kinds of 585 defects in ZSiNRs referred as 585-I and 585-II, respectively. It is found that no matter which one of the two types, it is the most stable at the edge of the ZSiNR, and at this time it is even more stable than that in an infinite silicene sheet. Utilizing 585 defects, it can transform ZSiNRs from antiferromagnetic semiconductors into metals or half-metals. Especially, defective ZSiNRs may display nearly 100% spin-polarized half-metallic behavior induced by the 585-II defect, which maybe have potential applications in silicon-based spintronic devices. These results present the possibility of modulating the electronic and magnetic properties of ZSiNRs using 585 defects.     

The effects of spin-filter and negative differential resistance on Fe-substituted zigzag graphene nanoribbons

Using the first-principle calculations, we investigate the spin-dependent transport properties of Fe-substituted zigzag graphene nanoribbons (ZGNRs). The substituted ZGNRs with single or double Fe atoms, distributing symmetrically or asymmetrically on both edges, are considered. Our results show Fe-substitution can significantly change electronic transport of ZGNRs, and the spin-filter effect and negative differential resistance (NDR) can be observed. We propose that the distribution of the electronic spin-states of ZGNRs can be modulated by the substituted Fe and results in the spin-polarization, and meanwhile the change of the delocalization of the frontier molecular orbitals at different bias may be responsible for the NDR behavior.     

Spin thermoelectricity in dualhydrogenated zigzag silicene nanoribbons with surface adsorptions

The buckled structure of silicene provides a feasible pathway to influence its electric and magnetic properties via surface adsorptions. Here, we investigate the magnetic and spin thermoelectric transport properties of dual-hydrogenated zigzag silicene nanoribbons (ZSiNRs) without/with the hydrogen adsorption. The band gaps for two spin channels in ZSiNRs under the hydrogen adsorption are shifted near the Fermi level, leading to the appearance of spin Seebeck effect. Using a temperature difference, one can derive the carriers with the different spin index to flow in the opposite direction. Moreover, a large rectification ratio close to 10⁵ at room temperature is achieved for the spin current, and the charge current exhibits a remarkable negative differential thermoelectric resistance (NDTR) behavior. The results presented here are fascinating potential applications in the fields of silicon-based spin caloritronic devices.     

Impact of Phosphorus superlattices on charge and spin dependent transport properties of zigzag silicene nanoribbons

To investigate charge and spin dependent conductance properties of Phosphorus doped zigzag silicene nanoribbons (ZSiNRs), we utilize recursive Green's function method and Landauer-Büttiker formalism. Our calculations are performed in the absence and presence of exchange magnetic fields with both parallel and antiparallel configurations. Considering a supperlattice of Phosphorus substituents in a periodic distribution at the edge of nanoribbon, the effect of increasing number of dopants and period of the distribution on transport properties are studied. It is found that transport properties of doped ZSiNRs vary with doping concentration according to being odd or even of number of dopants. For parallel configuration, doped ZSiNR with various concentrations works as a controllable spin filter with Fermi energy. Increasing doping concentration leads to increasing size of conductance gap and improvement of controlling quality of spin-filtering property while increasing period of Phosphorus atomic distribution has destructive effect on size of conductance gap and destroys spin-filtering property. Moreover, we show that although the same results are obtained for transport properties of doped ZSiNR with various concentrations of Phosphorus atoms in presence of antiparallel exchange magnetic fields, a completely controllable spin-filtering property cannot be achieved by Fermi energy changes.     

Large negative differential resistance behavior in arsenene nanoribbons induced by vacant defects

We have studied the electronic structures of arsenene nanoribbons with different edge passivations by employing first-principle calculations. Furthermore, the effects of the defect in different positions on the transport properties of arsenene nanoribbons are also investigated. We find that the band structures of arsenene nanoribbons are sensitive to the edge passivation. The current-voltage characteristics of unpassivated and O-passivated zigzag arsenene nanoribbons exhibit a negative differential resistance behavior, while such a peculiar phenomenon has not emerged in the unpassivated and O-passivated armchair arsenene nanoribbons. The vacant defects on both top and bottom edges in unpassivated armchair arsenene nanoribbon can make its current-voltage characteristic also present a negative differential resistance behavior. After expanding the areas of the top and bottom defects in unpassivated armchair arsenene nanoribbon, the peak-to-valley ratio of the negative differential resistance behavior can be enlarged obviously, which opens another way for the application of arsenene-based devices with a high switching ratio.     

Negative differential resistance and rectification effects in zigzag graphene nanoribbon heterojunctions: Induced by edge oxidation and symmetry concept

By applying non-equilibrium Green's functions (NEGF) in combination with tight-binding (TB) model, we investigate and compare the electronic transport properties of H-terminated zigzag graphene nanoribbon (H/ZGNR) and O-terminated ZGNR/H-terminated ZGNR (O/ZGNR–H/ZGNR) heterostructure under finite bias. Moreover, the effect of width and symmetry on the electronic transport properties of both models is also considered. The results reveal that asymmetric H/ZGNRs have linear I–V characteristics in whole bias range, but symmetric H-ZGNRs show negative differential resistance (NDR) behavior which is inversely proportional to the width of the H/ZGNR. It is also shown that the I–V characteristic of O/ZGNR–H/ZGNR heterostructure shows a rectification effect, whether the geometrical structure is symmetric or asymmetric. The fewer the number of zigzag chains, the bigger the rectification ratio. It should be mentioned that, the rectification ratios of symmetric heterostructures are much bigger than asymmetric one. Transmission spectrum, density of states (DOS), molecular projected self-consistent Hamiltonian (MPSH) and molecular eigenstates are analyzed subsequently to understand the electronic transport properties of these ZGNR devices. Our findings could be used in developing nanoscale rectifiers and NDR devices.     

Effects of vertical strain on zigzag graphene nanoribbon with a topological line defect

We report the elastic, electronic and magnetic properties of naked ZGNRs with topological line defects (LD-ZGNRs) lying symmetrically on the ribbon's middle under vertical strains at four types of line defect atoms by using a first-principles approach. By changing the position and size of the local deformation of the ribbon, the optimal position is obtained. Moreover, an apparent spin-splitting of the energy band is obtained when a local deformation is created by the vertically applied strain.     

Spin dependent electronic transport properties of zigzag black phosphorene nanojunctions induced by H,Li, O,Co asymmetric edge saturations

Two-dimensional (2D) material of few-layer black phosphorus (BP) has recently attracted extensive interest owing to its tunable band gap and high carrier mobility. We investigate the electronic transport properties of zigzag black phosphorene nanoribbons (ZBPNRs) with asymmetric H, Li, O and Co edge saturations by employing the density functional theory in combination with the non-equilibrium Green's function. The computational results forecast that different types of saturated atoms at both edge of ribbons mainly contribute to the electronic transport properties of molecular junctions. The metal edge saturation of Co atom is used to the one edge of ZBPNR which can induce an identical electronic transport property. Interestingly, the negative differential resistance (NDR) phenomena can be observed in our proposed ZBPNR junctions with an analysis of internal physical mechanism. Our theoretical results could support the possibility of potential applications to design 2D electronic devices based on the material of BP in future.     

Modulation of rectification and negative differential resistance in graphene nanoribbon by nitrogen doping

By applying the nonequilibrium Green?s function formalism combined with density functional theory, we have investigated the electronic transport properties of two nitrogen-doped armchair graphene nanoribbon-based junctions M1 and M2. In the left part of M1 and M2, nitrogen atoms are doped at two edges of the nanoribbon. In the right part, nitrogen atoms are doped at one edge and at the center for M1 and M2, respectively. Obvious rectifying and negative differential resistance behaviors are found, which are strongly dependent on the doping position. The maximum rectification and peak-to-valley ratios are up to the order of 10⁴ in M2.     

Engineering of carbon-based superlight spin filter with negative differential resistance

Based on density functional theory and non-equilibrium Green's function, we investigate the edge hydrogenation and oxidation effects on the spin transport of devices consisting of a zigzag C₂N nanoribbon (ZC₂NNR) embedded in zigzag graphene nanoribbons in parallel (P) and antiparallel (AP) spin configurations. The results show that device with edge hydrogenation exhibits dual spin filtering effect in AP spin configuration and obvious negative differential resistance in both P and AP spin configuration. By substituting oxygen for hydrogen as passivation atoms of ZC₂NNR, the spin filtering efficiency is as high as 100% in the P spin configuration, and the negative differential resistance is largely enhanced with a peak to valley ratio in excess of 4×10³. Our theoretical studies suggest that zigzag C₂N nanoribbon modulated by edge substitution has great potential in the design of future multifunctional spin devices.     

Effects of V-shaped edge defect and H-saturation on spin-dependent electronic transport of zigzag MoS2 nanoribbons

Based on nonequilibrium Green's function in combination with density functional theory calculations, the spin-dependent electronic transport properties of one-dimensional zigzag molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) nanoribbons with V-shaped defect and H-saturation on the edges have been studied. Our results show that the spin-polarized transport properties can be found in all the considered zigzag MoS₂ nanoribbons systems. The edge defects, especially the V-shaped defect on the Mo edge, and H-saturation on the edges can suppress the electronic transport of the systems. Also, the spin-filtering and negative differential resistance behaviors can be observed obviously. The mechanisms are proposed for these phenomena.     

The influence of random edge defects on the electric and optical properties of phosphorene nanoribbons along zigzag direction

Phosphorene nanoribbons are one-dimensional semiconductors with possible edge states falling within its energy bandgap. We build the connection between the possible configurations of edge defects and the corresponding electric and optical properties in practice systems. The influence of the random defects or roughness at the edges of phosphorene nanoribbons cutting along zigzag direction is investigated quantitatively. Theoretical calculations show that the absorption peak due to the transitions involving edge states has an obvious blue shift with the zigzag-type positions at the edges increasing. The absorption thus can be used to estimate the random defects or roughness of the edges of phosphorene nanoribbons.     

Large negative differential resistance and rectifying performance modulated by contact sites in fused thiophene trimmer-based molecular devices

By applying density functional theory with non-equilibrium Green?s function formalism, we have carried out a theoretical study of the electron transport in fused thiophene trimmer-based molecular devices with ethylene connections at three different sites. The simulation results indicate that the electronic transport properties strongly depend on the contact sites. Negative differential resistance and rectifying behaviors occur simultaneously in the current–voltage curves when ethylene connects the fused thiophene trimer at one second-nearest site and one third-nearest site. A larger negative differential resistance occurs only when ethylene connects the fused thiophene trimer at two second-nearest sites.     

硼氮原子取代掺杂对分子器件负微分电阻效应的影响

利用基于非平衡格林函数和密度泛函理论相结合的第一性原理计算方法,研究了硼氮原子取代掺杂对三并苯分子电子输运性质的影响.计算结果表明,三并苯分子器件的电流在特定偏压区间内随电压的增加而减小呈现出负微分电阻效应,电流的峰谷之比高达5.12.用硼原子或者氮原子取代分子的中心原子后,器件0.8V以内的电流明显增加,但是负微分电阻效应减弱,相应的电流峰谷比分别降至3.83和3.61.分析认为,输运系数在特定偏压下的移动是器件负微分电阻效应的主要成因.核外电子数的差异导致硼氮原子掺杂取代可以使器件轨道及其透射峰分别向高能方向或者低能方向移动从而有效地调控了器件的低偏压下的电子传输能力和负微分电阻效应.