Issue 30, 2016

Recent advances in the Heusler based spin-gapless semiconductors

Abstract

In recent years, spin-gapless semiconductors (SGSs) have received considerable interest in the fields of condensed matter physics and materials sciences due to their potential applications in novel spintronic devices. SGSs, with a zero gap at the Fermi level in one of the spin channels, can make electrons easy to excite from the valence band to the conduction band with a small input of energy and simultaneously produce electron and hole carriers with 100% spin polarization. Very recently, as a new member of SGSs family, fully-compensated ferrimagnetic spin-gapless semiconductors (FCF-SGSs) have been predicted. In addition to the properties of SGSs, FCF-SGSs possess zero magnetization, which is an added advantage for practical application. In this review article, we firstly review the progress on the Heusler-based materials with spin-gapless semiconducting behaviour, including half-Heusler compounds, full-Heusler compounds, DO3-type compounds, and LiMgPdSn-type quaternary Heusler compounds. Among these potential SGSs, some have been synthesized experimentally, while the others are just predicted by extensive first-principles calculations. Then, we explain the origin of the SGS characteristics in Heusler compounds based on the common Slater–Pauling curve and give a possible rule for making some on-demand designs of SGSs. Finally, we present a new spin injection scheme based on SGSs for practical applications and give a brief summary and outlook.

Graphical abstract: Recent advances in the Heusler based spin-gapless semiconductors

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
03 Сәу. 2016
Accepted
16 Мау. 2016
First published
17 Мау. 2016

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2016,4, 7176-7192

Recent advances in the Heusler based spin-gapless semiconductors

X. Wang, Z. Cheng, J. Wang, X. Wang and G. Liu, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2016, 4, 7176 DOI: 10.1039/C6TC01343K

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements