Schottky potential barrier and spin polarization at Co/antimonene interfaces

Abstract

The geometry, electronic structure and magnetic properties of the interfaces between Co (0001) and monolayer, bilayer, and trilayer antimonene with different stacking models were investigated. The Co d and Sb sp orbitals show a strong hybridization near E_F, and strong chemical bonds form between Co and antimonene at the interface. Antimonene demonstrates a spin polarization of 12% at the 1T interface. After the contact, a high Schottky barrier is formed and the barrier height can be tuned by different Co/antimonene stacking patterns. With increasing the number of layers of antimonene, the barrier height decreases. These results have potential applications in spin diodes or spin field effect transistors based on antimonene.