Edge Disorder in Bottom-Up Zigzag Graphene Nanoribbons: Implications for Magnetism and Quantum Electronic Transport

Abstract

We unveil the nature of the structural disorder in bottom-up zigzag graphene nanoribbons along with its effect on the magnetism and electronic transport on the basis of scanning probe microscopies and first-principles calculations. We find that edge-missing m-xylene units emerging during the cyclodehydrogenation step of the on-surface synthesis are the most common point defects. These "bite'' defects act as spin-1 paramagnetic centers, severely disrupt the conductance spectrum around the band extrema, and give rise to spin-polarized charge transport. We further show that the electronic conductance across graphene nanoribbons is more sensitive to "bite" defects forming at the zigzag edges than at the armchair ones. Our work establishes a comprehensive understanding of the low-energy electronic properties of disordered bottom-up graphene nanoribbons.

References in corpus (21)

• The SIESTA method for ab initio order-N materials simulation
• Efficient index handling of multidimensional periodic boundary conditions
• Energy Gaps in Graphene Nanoribbons
• Half-Metallic Graphene Nanoribbons
• On-surface synthesis of graphene nanoribbons with zigzag edge topology
• Emergence of magnetism in graphene materials and nanostructures
• Room temperature magnetic order on zigzag edges of narrow graphene nanoribbons
• Magnetic Correlations at Graphene Edges
• Atomic-scale control of graphene magnetism using hydrogen atoms
• Engineering of robust topological quantum phases in graphene nanoribbons
• Colloquium: Spintronics in graphene and other two-dimensional materials
• Improvements on non-equilibrium and transport Green function techniques: the next-generation transiesta
• Spin currents in rough graphene nanoribbons: Universal fluctuations and spin injection
• Dual origin of defect magnetism in graphene and its reversible switching by molecular doping
• A Guide to the Design of Electronic Properties of Graphene Nanoribbons
• Single Spin Localization and Manipulation in Graphene Open-Shell Nanostructures
• Magnetism of topological boundary states induced by boron substitution in graphene nanoribbons
• Magneto-electric coupling in zigzag graphene nanoribbons
• Engineering spin exchange in non-bipartite graphene zigzag edges
• Imprinting Tunable $\pi$-Magnetism in Graphene Nanoribbons via Edge Extensions
• Electronic transport across quantum dots in graphene nanoribbons: Toward built-in gap-tunable metal-semiconductor-metal heterojunctions

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Hydrogen Atoms on Zigzag Graphene Nanoribbons: Chemistry and Magnetism Meet at the Edge
• One-dimensional magnetic conduction channels across zigzag graphene nanoribbon/hexagonal boron nitride heterojunctions
• Dirac half-semimetallicity and antiferromagnetism in graphene nanoribbon/hexagonal boron nitride heterojunctions
• Breakdown of topological protection due to non-magnetic edge disorder in two-dimensional materials in the Quantum Spin Hall phase
• Predicting magnetic edge behaviour in graphene using neural networks
• Predicting edge-localized monovacancy defects in zigzag graphene nanoribbons from Floquet quasienergy spectrum
• Potential-tuned magnetic switches and half-metallicity transition in zigzag graphene nanoribbons