Effects of symmetry and spin configuration on spin-dependent transport properties of iron-phthalocyanine-based devices

Spin-dependent transport properties of nanodevices constructed by iron-phthalocyanine (FePc) molecule sandwiched between two zigzag graphene nanoribbon electrodes are studied using first-principles quantum transport calculations. The effects of the symmetry and spin configuration of electrodes have been taken into account. It is found that large magnetoresistance, large spin polarization, dual spin-filtering, and negative differential resistance (NDR) can coexist in these devices. Our results show that 5Z-FePc system presents well conductive ability in both parallel (P) and anti-parallel (AP) configurations. For 6Z-FePc-P system, spin filtering effect and large spin polarization can be found. A dual spin filtering and NDR can also be shown in 6Z-FePc-AP. Our studies indicate that the dual spin filtering effect depends on the orbitals symmetry of the energy bands and spin mismatching of the electrodes. And all the effects would open up possibilities for their applications in spin-valve, spin-filter as well as effective spin diode devices. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.