Li-doped graphene for spintronic applications

Abstract

Generating spintronic devices has been a goal for nanoscience. Here, Li-doped graphene flakes are proposed for spintronic applications. To achieve this goal, density functional theory has been used to determine the magnetic phases of monolayer and bilayer doped graphene nanoflakes. The adsorption energies, spin polarizations, electronic gaps, magnetic properties and robustness of spin-polarized states have been studied in the presence of dopants and second layers. Based on these results, graphene flakes have been introduced as single molecular magnets and spin amplifiers for room temperature applications. It has been determined that for bilayer flakes with two layers of different sizes, the molecular orbitals switch between the layers around the Fermi level. Based on this switch of the molecular orbitals in a bilayer graphene flake, spin on/off switches and spintronic memory devices could be achievable.