Spin effects in thermoelectric phenomena in SiC nanoribbons

The spin-dependent properties of silicon carbide/graphene nanoribbons junctions with vacancy defects

We have designed high-efficient spin-filtering junctions composed of graphene and silicon carbide nanoribbons. We have calculated the spin and charge transport in the junction by non-equilibrium Green’s function formalism combined with the density functional theory to find its spin-dependent electrical conductance, thermal conductance and Seebeck coefficient. In addition, the effect of Si and C atoms vacancies on the transport properties of the junction has been carefully investigated. The enhanced spin-filtering is clearly observed due to the edge and vacancy effects. On the other hand, vacancy defects increase the electrical and spin conductances of the junctions. The results show that the considered junctions are half-metal with reduced thermal conductance which makes them a suitable spin-dependent thermoelectric device. Our results predict the promising potential of the considered junctions for application in spintronic devices.

Pure thermal spin current and perfect spin-filtering with negative differential thermoelectric resistance induced by proximity effect in graphene/silicene junctions

The spin-dependent Seebeck effect (SDSE) and thermal spin-filtering effect (SFE) are now considered as the essential aspects of the spin caloritronics, which can efficiently explore the relationships between the spin and heat transport in the materials. However, there is still a challenge to get a thermally-induced spin current with no thermal electron current. This paper aims to numerically investigate the spin-dependent transport properties in hybrid graphene/silicene nanoribbons (GSNRs), using the nonequilibrium Green’s function method. The effects of temperature gradient between the left and right leads, the ferromagnetic exchange field, and the local external electric fields are also included. The results showed that the spin-up and spin-down currents are produced and flow in opposite directions with almost equal magnitudes. This evidently shows that the carrier transport is dominated by the thermal spin current, whereas the thermal electron current is almost disappeared. A pure thermal spin current with the finite threshold temperatures can be obtained by modulating the temperature, and a negative differential thermoelectric resistance is obtained for the thermal electron current. A nearly zero charge thermopower is also obtained, which further demonstrates the emergence of the SDSE. The response of the hybrid system is then varied by changing the magnitudes of the ferromagnetic exchange field and local external electric fields. Thus, a nearly perfect SFE can be observed at room temperature, whereas the spin polarization efficiency is reached up to 99%. It is believed that the results obtained from this study can be useful to well understand the inspiring thermospin phenomena, and to enhance the spin caloritronics material with lower energy consumption.

Alloying-induced spin Seebeck effect and spin figure of merit in Pt-based bimetallic atomic wires of noble metals

The chemical potential of electrodes can be tuned to generate pure thermal spin voltages in certain bimetallic wires of noble metals.

Spectacular enhancement of thermoelectric phenomena in chemically synthesized graphene nanoribbons with substitution atoms

We analyze theoretically the transport and thermoelectric properties of graphene nanoribbons of a specific geometry, which have been synthesized recently from polymers [Cai, et al., Nature, 2011, 466, 470]. When such nanoribbons are modified at one of the two edges by Al or N substitutions, they acquire a ferromagnetic moment localized at the modified edge. We present numerical results on the electronic structure and thermoelectric properties (including also spin thermoelectricity) of the modified nanoribbons. The results show that such nanoribbons can display large thermoelectric efficiency in certain regions of chemical potential, where the corresponding electric and spin figures of merit achieve unusually large values. The enhancement of thermoelectric efficiency follows from a reduced phonon heat conductance of the nanoribbons and from their peculiar electronic band structure. Thus, such nanoribbons are promising for practical applications in nanoelectronic and spintronic devices.