%0 Journal Article
%T Origin of Room-Temperature Ferromagnetism in Hydrogenated Epitaxial Graphene on Silicon Carbide
%A Ameneh Najafi
%A Kees Flipse
%A Mohamed Ridene
%J Archive of "Nanomaterials".
%D 2019
%R 10.3390/nano9020228
%X The discovery of room-temperature ferromagnetism of hydrogenated epitaxial graphene on silicon carbide challenges for a fundamental understanding of this long-range phenomenon. Carbon allotropes with their dispersive electron states at the Fermi level and a small spin-orbit coupling are not an obvious candidate for ferromagnetism. Here we show that the origin of ferromagnetism in hydrogenated epitaxial graphene with a relatively high Curie temperature (>300 K) lies in the formation of curved specific carbon site regions in the graphene layer, induced by the underlying Si-dangling bonds and by the hydrogen bonding. Hydrogen adsorption is therefore more favourable at only one sublattice site, resulting in a localized state at the Fermi energy that can be attributed to a pseudo-Landau level splitting. This n = 0 level forms a spin-polarized narrow band at the Fermi energy leading to a high Curie temperature and larger magnetic moment can be achieved due to the presence of Si dangling bonds underneath the hydrogenated graphene layer
%K hydrogenated epitaxial graphene
%K electronic structure
%K ferromagnetism
%U https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6409591/