The spin-dependent transport properties of zigzag graphene nanoribbon edge-defect junction

Abstract

First-principles calculation was performed to investigate the transport properties of edge-defect junctions of graphene with H-terminated or bare edges, which were generated by removing edge carbon atoms from a perfect ribbon. The edge defect changes the electronic transport behavior of a zigzag graphene nanoribbon from spin-degenerated for a perfect ribbon to highly spin-polarized for edge-defective ones at the Fermi level. The electronic local density of states isosurface calculations could help understand the transport results. These junctions could generate spin-polarized currents. Especially, the bare edge-defect junction has a high spin filter efficiency regardless of the external bias. This behavior suggests a possible use of the edge-defective graphene in a spin filter system.