title: Spin-dependent electronic conduction along zigzag graphene nanoribbons bearing adsorbed Ni and Fe nanostructures.
abstract: Using SMEAGOL, an ab initio computational method that combines the non-equilibrium Green's function formalism with density-functional theory, we calculated spin-specific electronic conduction in systems consisting of single Fen and Nin nanostructures (n = 1-4) adsorbed on a hydrogen-passivated zigzag graphene nanoribbon. For each cluster we considered both ferromagnetically and antiferromagnetically coupled ribbon edges (Ferro-F and Ferro-A systems, respectively). Adstructures located laterally on Ferro-A ribbons caused significant transmittance loss at energies 0.6-0.25 eV below the Fermi level for one spin and 0.2-0.4 eV above the Fermi level for the other, allowing the potential use of these systems in transistors to create a moderately spin-polarized current of one or the other sign depending on the gate voltage. Ni3 and Ni4 clusters located at the centre of Ferro-F ribbons exhibited a strong spin-filtering effect in a narrow energy window around the Fermi level.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física Teórica, Atómica y Óptica, Universidad de Valladolid, E-47011 Valladolid, Spain. Department of Chemistry, University of Fribourg, CH-1700 Fribourg, Switzerland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: García-Fuente
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Gallego
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vega