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

Abstract

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.