Edge-insensitive magnetism and half metallicity in graphene nanoribbons

Realizing magnetism in graphene nanostructures is a decade-long challenge. The magnetic edge state and half metallicity in zigzag graphene nanoribbons are particularly promising (Son et al 2006 Nature 444 347). However, its experimental realization has been hindered by the stringent requirement of the mono-hydrogenated zigzag edge. Using first-principle calculations, we predict that free-carrier doping can overcome this challenge and realize ferromagnetism and half-metallicity in narrow graphene nanoribbons of general types of edge structures. This magnetism exists within the density range of gate-doping experiments (~10¹³ cm^-2) and has large spin polarization energy up to 17 meV per carrier, which induces a Zeeman splitting equivalent to an external magnetic field of a few hundred Tesla. Moreover, we trace the formation of this edge-insensitive magnetism to the quantum confinement of the electronic state near the band edge and reveal the scaling law of magnetism versus the ribbon width. Our findings suggest that combining doping with quantum confinement could be a general tool to realize transition-metal-free magnetism in light-element nanostructures.