Impact of interface types on spin transport in heterostructures of graphene/hexagonal boron-nitride nanoribbons

Mei Wang, Xiaoteng Li, Yuan Li, Xi Zuo, Dongmei Li, Bin Cui, De-Sheng Liu

Index: 10.1016/j.orgel.2018.04.006

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Abstract

Using density functional theory in combination with non-equilibrium Green's functions, we investigate the spin transport in two heterostructures of graphene and hexagonal boron-nitride (h-BN) nanoribbons with C-B and C-N interfaces, respectively. Significant spin-filtering effect (over 80%) is observed in both C-B and C-N devices with bias ranging from 0 V to 0.3 V. Interestingly, the spin polarizations are opposite in these two devices, and prominent negative differential resistance (NDR) for both spin-up and spin-down currents is observed only in the C-N device. These findings provide insight into how the spin-transport properties of graphene/h-BN nanoribbons can be impacted by different types of interfaces of the heterostructures.