High spin-filter efficiency and Seebeck effect through spin-crossover iron-benzene complex.

Abstract

Electronic structures and coherent quantum transport properties are explored for spin-crossover molecule iron-benzene Fe(Bz)2 using density functional theory combined with non-equilibrium Green's function. High- and low-spin states are investigated for two different lead-molecule junctions. It is found that the asymmetrical T-shaped contact junction in the high-spin state behaves as an efficient spin filter while it has a smaller conductivity than that in the low-spin state. Large spin Seebeck effect is also observed in asymmetrical T-shaped junction. Spin-polarized properties are absent in the symmetrical H-shaped junction. These findings strongly suggest that both the electronic and contact configurations play significant roles in molecular devices and metal-benzene complexes are promising materials for spintronics and thermo-spintronics.