Modulating magnetism of nitrogen-doped zigzag graphene nanoribbons

We present a study of electronic properties of zigzag graphene nanoribbons (ZGNRs) substitutionally doped with nitrogen atoms at a single edge by first principle calculations. We find that the two edge states near the Fermi level separate due to the asymmetric nitrogen-doping. The ground states of these systems become ferromagnetic because the local magnetic moments along the undoped edges remain and those along the doped edges are suppressed. By controlling the charge-doping level, the magnetic moments of the whole ribbons are modulated. Proper charge doping leads to interesting half-metallic and single-edge conducting ribbons which would be helpful for designing graphene-nanoribbon-based spintronic devices in the future.