Spin-dependent Seebeck effects in a graphene nanoribbon coupled to two square lattice ferromagnetic leads

Journal Article · Sat Mar 14 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4914486· OSTI ID:22399256

Zhou, Benhu; Zeng, Yangsu ^[1]; Zhou, Benliang; Zhou, Guanghui ^[2]; Ouyang, Tao ^[3]

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1. Department of Physics, Shaoyang University, Shaoyang 422001 (China)
2. Department of Physics and Key Laboratory for Low-Dimensional Structures and Quantum Manipulation (Ministry of Education), Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081 (China)
3. Hunan Key Laboratory for Micro-Nano Energy Materials and Device and Department of Physics, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan 411105 (China)

We theoretically investigate spin-dependent Seebeck effects for a system consisting of a narrow graphene nanoribbon (GNR) contacted to square lattice ferromagnetic (FM) electrodes with noncollinear magnetic moments. Both zigzag-edge graphene nanoribbons (ZGNRs) and armchair-edge graphene nanoribbons (AGNRs) were considered. Compared with our previous work with two-dimensional honeycomb-lattice FM leads, a more realistic model of two-dimensional square-lattice FM electrodes is adopted here. Using the nonequilibrium Green's function method combining with the tight-binding Hamiltonian, it is demonstrated that both the charge Seebeck coefficient S{sub C} and the spin-dependent Seebeck coefficient S{sub S} strongly depend on the geometrical contact between the GNR and the leads. In our previous work, S{sub C} for a semiconducting 15-AGNR system near the Dirac point is two orders of magnitude larger than that of a metallic 17-AGNR system. However, S{sub C} is the same order of magnitude for both metallic 17-AGNR and semiconducting 15-AGNR systems in the present paper because of the lack of a transmission energy gap for the 15-AGNR system. Furthermore, the spin-dependent Seebeck coefficient S{sub S} for the systems with 20-ZGNR, 17-AGNR, and 15-AGNR is of the same order of magnitude and its maximum absolute value can reach 8 μV/K. The spin-dependent Seebeck effects are not very pronounced because the transmission coefficient weakly depends on spin orientation. Moreover, the spin-dependent Seebeck coefficient is further suppressed with increasing angle between the relative alignments of magnetization directions of the two leads. Additionally, the spin-dependent Seebeck coefficient can be strongly suppressed for larger disorder strength. The results obtained here may provide valuable theoretical guidance in the experimental design of heat spintronic devices.

• OSTI ID: 22399256
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 117, Issue 10; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
ELECTRODES
ENERGY GAP
FERROMAGNETIC MATERIALS
FERROMAGNETISM
GRAPHENE
HAMILTONIANS
MAGNETIC MOMENTS
MAGNETIZATION
NANOSTRUCTURES
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SPIN
SPIN ORIENTATION
TETRAGONAL LATTICES
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
TWO-DIMENSIONAL SYSTEMS