The magnetism enhancement and spin transport in zigzag borophene nanoribbons edge-passivated by N atoms

Abstract

We study the effects of edge passivation by N atoms on the magnetic and electrical properties of zigzag borophene nanoribbons (ZBNRs) employing the density functional theory combined with the non-equilibrium Green’s function method. Significant enhancement on the edge magnetism is found in general, in contrast to the magnetism suppression in hydrogenated ZBNRs, and half-metallicity can be observed in some special cases. Different from the graphene nanoribbons, the properties of ZBNRs are sensitive to the ribbon width, since their electronic structures fluctuate greatly with the width. Magnetism and conductivity change sharply and the ground state jumps back and forth between the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic configurations as the ribbon width increases. Spin-dependent negative differential resistivity may be realized in N-passivated ZBNRs.