The spin filter effect of iron-cyclopentadienyl multidecker clusters: the role of the electrode band structure and the coupling strength.
We present a theoretical study of spin transport in a series of organometallic iron-cyclopentadienyl, Fe(n)Cp(n+1), multidecker clusters sandwiched between either gold or platinum electrodes. Ab initio modeling is performed by combining the non-equilibrium Green's function formalism with spin density functional theory. Due to the intrinsic bonding nature, the low-bias conductance of the Fe(n)Cp(n+1) clusters contacted to gold electrodes is relatively small even for strong cluster-electrode coupling. However, a nearly 100% spin polarization of the transmitted electrons can be achieved for the Fe(n)Cp(n+1) (n>2) clusters. In contrast, the Fe(n)Cp(n+1) (n>2) clusters attached to platinum electrodes through Pt adatoms not only can act as nearly perfect spin filters but also show a much larger transmission around the Fermi level, demonstrating their promising applications in future molecular spintronics.
Shen
Xin
X
Key Laboratory for the Physics and Chemistry of Nanodevices, Department of Electronics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China.
Yi
Zelong
Z
Shen
Ziyong
Z
Zhao
Xingyu
X
Wu
Jinlei
J
Hou
Shimin
S
Sanvito
Stefano
S