Role of Vacancies in Zigzag Graphene Nanoribbons: An <i>Ab Initio</i> Study

Abstract

We have studied the effects of vacancies on the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of zigzag-edged graphene nanoribbons (ZGNRs). Our calculations were carried out using an abinitio density functional pseudopotential computational method combined with the generalized gradient approximation for the exchange-correlation functional. The equilibrium geometries, electronic charge spin density distributions, electronic band structures, and magnetic moments were examined in the presence of single vacancy and double vacancies. Structural optimization showed that vacancies induce substantial structural changes in ZGNRs. We found that introducing vacancies into ZGNR changes the spatial distribution of neighbor atoms, particularly those located around the vacancies. Our calculations showed that the vacancies have significant effect on the magnetization of ZGNR. The calculations showed that the changes in the structural geometry, the electronic structure and the magnetization of ZGNR depend on the location of the vacancies with respect to the ribbon edges. These results suggest that vacancy defects can be used to modify the electronic and the magnetic properties of ZGNR.