Electronic structure and magnetic properties of substitutional transition-metal atoms in GaN nanotubes

Abstract

The electronic structure and magnetic properties of the transition-metal (TM) atoms (Sc—Zn, Pt and Au) doped zigzag GaN single-walled nanotubes (NTs) are investigated using first-principles spin-polarized density functional calculations. Our results show that the bindings of all TM atoms are stable with the binding energy in the range of 6–16 eV. The Sc- and V-doped GaN NTs exhibit a nonmagnetic behavior. The GaN NTs doped with Ti, Mn, Ni, Cu and Pt are antiferromagnetic. On the contrary, the Cr-, Fe-, Co-, Zn- and Au-doped GaN NTs show the ferromagnetic characteristics. The Mn- and Co-doped GaN NTs induce the largest local moment of 4μB among these TM atoms. The local magnetic moment is dominated by the contribution from the substitutional TM atom and the N atoms bonded with it.