Manipulation of quantum spin transport of TM (Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni) (II) phthalocyanines coupled to carbon nanotube leads applicable in spintronic devices

Abstract

We conducted a theoretical scrutiny on the quantum spin transport characteristics of a class of open-shell 3d-transition metal (TM = Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni) (II) phthalocyanines (TMPcs) molecules sandwiched between two semi-infinite armchair single-walled carbon nanotube probes. Herein, the spin density functional formalism is utilized in conjunction with state-of-the-art non-equilibrium Green's function technique. Molecular junctions composed of MnPc and FePc have higher local magnetic spin moments than CoPc and NiPc because of the strong exchange spin-splitting between the 3d-states of the Mn or Fe cation atoms and the p-states of the N anion atom. This indicates that TMPc molecules (TM = Mn, and Fe) bridged between two single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) electrodes with a π-type geometry demonstrate a pronounced transmission near the Fermi level. Furthermore, the sign and robustness of spin filter efficiency are tailored by manipulating the central atom of 3d-transition metal and the contact SWCNT electrodes. Subsequently, FePc and MnPc molecular junctions have the advantage of operating practically as ideal spin filter devices compared to CoPc and NiPc molecular structures. Moreover, the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) of these molecular devices is assessed. For MnPc and FePc molecular junctions, the estimated total conductance exhibited a robust trend at zero bias voltage, whereas the magnitudes of spin-up and spin-dn quantum conductances increased significantly in CoPc and NiPc molecular configurations with bias voltages range between ±0.45 and ±0.95 Volt. Spin-down carriers essentially govern the quantum conductance of TMPc (Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni) molecular junctions at bias voltage around ±0.75 Volt. By examining their I-V characteristics, it has been established that MnPc, and FePc molecular junctions exhibit metal-like behavior, whereas CoPc and NiPc molecular devices are subject to negative differential resistance. As a result of our theoretical findings, it is found that TMPcs (TM = Fe, Mn) coupled to SWCNT probes yield a robust spin filter efficiency that may be of interest for prospective technological realizations in organic-inorganic molecular spintronic devices.