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Clever substitutions reveal magnetism in zigzag graphene nanoribbons

The inclusion of nitrogen atoms stabilizes the zigzag edges of carbon-based nanoribbons, enabling the ribbons to be decoupled from a substrate and providing a probe for their unconventional magnetism.
  1. Aran Garcia-Lekue

    1. Aran Garcia-Lekue is at the Donostia International Physics Center, 20018 San Sebastian, Spain, and at Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain.

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  2. Daniel Sánchez-Portal

    1. Daniel Sánchez-Portal is at the Donostia International Physics Center, 20018 San Sebastian, Spain, and at the Materials Physics Centre (CSIC-UPV/EHU), San Sebastian.

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Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice. Thin, flexible, transparent and metallic, it therefore forms an ideal material for many applications, especially for a type of electronics known as spintronics. In spintronic devices, the magnetic moment (spin) of an electron can be just as useful as its charge for storing information and performing logic operations. It has been predicted that when graphene is shaped into nanoribbons, with zigzag edges that are stabilized by carbon–hydrogen bonds, it should exhibit magnetic states that show particular promise for carbon-based electronics1. However, a clear experimental demonstration of this magnetism in nanoribbons that are long enough to be technologically relevant has not been possible. Writing in Nature, Blackwell et al.2 overcome this hurdle — reporting the synthesis and characterization of zigzag graphene nanoribbons in which carbon atoms spaced at regular intervals along the edges have been replaced by nitrogen atoms.

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Nature 600, 613-614 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-03768-w

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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