Zigzag C2N nanoribbons with edge modifications as multi-functional spin devices.

Recently, a holey two-dimensional (2D) C2N crystal with a wide band gap has been successfully synthesized. However, its non-magnetic property largely limits real applications in spintronics. Here we find that edge magnetism can be introduced by tailoring the holey 2D C2N crystal into nanoribbons with zigzag edges. When edge N atoms are bare or passivated by H atoms, the device can be used to design high-performance thermospin devices and thermal rectifiers. This is ascribed to the emergence of a spin semiconducting property with a wide band gap. Moreover, if the edge N atoms are passivated by O atoms, the device shows a half-metallic property; meanwhile an obvious spin Seebeck effect can also be observed when a temperature difference is applied across the device.

Carbon-based molecular devices: Fano effects controlled by the molecule length and the gate voltage.

Fano effect is an important quantum phenomenon in mesoscopic systems, which arises from an interference between the localized state and the extended state. Here we observe an obvious Fano effect near the Fermi level in an all-carbon molecular device consisting of an acene molecule sandwiched between two zigzag graphene nanoribbon (ZGNR) electrodes. By increasing the length of the molecule, an extended state gradually evolves into a localized state. With the aid of the nearby extended state, a Fano effect is achieved. Using a gate voltage, we can easily tune the Fano effect induced by the single-transmission channel. When the spin degree of freedom is involved, the all-carbon device can show a half-metallic property with positive or negative 100% spin polarization at the Fermi level under the gate voltage; meanwhile the spin thermoelectric effect can also be enhanced.

Giant spin thermoelectric effects in all-carbon nanojunctions.

We examine the thermospin properties of an all-carbon nanojunction constructed by a graphene nanoflake (GNF) and zigzag-edged graphene nanoribbons (ZGNRs), bridged by the carbon atomic chains. The first-principles calculations show that the phonon thermal conductance is much weaker than the electron thermal conductance at the Fermi level, and even the former is a few percent of the latter in the low-temperature regime. In the meantime, the carbon-based device possesses an excellent spin transport property at the Fermi level due to the appearance of half-metallic property. Furthermore, the single-spin Seebeck coefficient has a larger value at the Fermi level. These facts ultimately result in a significant enhancement of spin thermoelectric figure of merit (FOM) ZST. By controlling the carbon-chain lengths and the temperature, the maximal value of ZST can reach 30. Moreover, we also find that the room temperature ZST displays an odd-even effect with the carbon-chain lengths, and it is always larger than the charge thermoelectric FOM ZCT.