Half metallicity and ferromagnetism of vanadium nitride nanoribbons: a first-principles study

Half metallic materials with intrinsic ferromagnetism are identified as the pillar of next generation spintronic devices. In search of new low-dimensional materials with these excellent properties, herein we systematically study the electronic and magnetic properties of edge dependent (armchair (ac) and zigzag (zz)) vanadium nitride nanoribbons (VNNRs) using density functional theory (DFT) based calculations. Both the ac and zz VNNRs show robust ferromagnetism and extensive half-metallicity with large band gaps (3.9–4.3 eV for ac and 2.5–3.0 eV for zz VNNRs) for the down spin channel. Interestingly, even with the application of uniaxial strain (both tensile and compressive) along the axis of the ribbons, VNNRs retain their extensive half metallicity with a large spin band gap and robust ferromagnetic behavior. Spin dependent electronic transport reveals the 100% spin filtering efficiency of nanoribbons, in both the free state and under applied strain, which support the robust half metallicity of VNNRs. Our study of VNNRs on a MoS2 substrate also shows half metallicity along with high stability, indicating the usage of MoS2 as a substrate for the synthesis of VNNRs. All these results guide the potential application of VNNRs in spintronic devices.