Stable Spin State Analysis of Fe, Co, Ni-modified Graphene-ribbon

Abstract

Magnetic graphene-ribbon is a candidate for realizing future ultra high density 100 tera bit/inch2 class data storage media. In order to increase the saturation magnetization, first principles DFT analysis was done for Fe, Co, Ni-modified zigzag edge graphene-ribbon. Typical unit cell is [C32H2Fe1], [C32H2Co1] and [C32H2Ni1] respectively. Most stable spin state was Sz=4/2 for Fe-modified case, whereas Sz=3/2 for Co-case and Sz=2/2 for Ni-case. Magnetic moment of Fe,Co, and Ni were 3.63, 2.49 and 1.26 {\mu}B, which can be explained by the Hund-rule considering charge donation to neighboring carbons. Band calculation shows half-metal like structure with a large band gap (in Co-case, 0.55eV) for up-spin, whereas very small gap (0.05eV) for down-spin, which will be useful for many featured application like information storage, spin filter and magneto-resistance devices. Dual layer Fe-modified ribbon shows a tube like curved structure, which may suggest a carbon nanotube creation by Fe catalyst.