Charge and spin transport in graphene-based heterostructure

We investigate electron transport properties of a heterostructure based on zigzag graphene nanoribbon (ZGNR) by first-principles calculations. This heterostructure consists of hydrogen-terminated ZGNR (ZGNR-H) and oxygen-terminated ZGNR (ZGNR-O). We find that both charge and spin transport can be well controlled with the ZGNR-H/ZGNR-O heterostructure. A large charge transmission gap appears near the Fermi energy, and rectification behavior is observed. Moreover, the ZGNR-H/ZGNR-O heterostructure can act as a perfect bipolar spin filter or magnetoresistance device. Our results show that the ZGNR-H/ZGNR-O heterostructure hold promise for combining magnetoelectronics and conventional charge-based electronics. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3549154]