Edge States and Magnetization in Bernal-Stacked Trilayer Graphene Nanoribbons

Abstract

We have used a tight-binding Hamiltonian of an ABA-stacked trilayer zigzag graphene nanoribbon with -alignment edges to study the edge magnetizations. Firstly, in the neutral system we analyzed a magnetic state in which both edge magnetizations reach their maximum value; and is characterized by an intralayer ferromagnetic coupling between the magnetizations at opposite edges. The band structure and the location of the edge-state bands are calculated in order to understand the origins of the edge magnetizations. We have also introduced an electron doping so that the number of electrons in the ribbon unit cell is higher than in neutral case. As a consequence, we have obtained magnetization steps and charge accumulation at the edges of the sample, which are caused by the edge-state flat bands..