Magnetic Interactions Between Radical Pairs in Chiral Graphene Nanoribbons
Tao Wang, Sofía Sanz, Jesús Castro‐Esteban, James Lawrence, Alejandro Berdonces‐Layunta, Mohammed S. G. Mohammed, Manuel Vilas‐Varela, Martina Corso, Diego Peña, Thomas Frederiksen, Dimas G. de Oteyza
Abstract
electron to the π-electron network, producing an unpaired π-radical. A similar scenario occurs for regular ketone-functionalized chGNRs in which one ketone is missing. Two such radical states can interact via exchange coupling, and we study those interactions as a function of their relative position, which includes a remarkable dependence on the chirality, as well as on the nature of the surrounding ribbon, that is, with or without ketone functionalization. Besides, we determine the parameters whereby this type of system with oxygen heteroatoms can be adequately described within the widely used mean-field Hubbard model. Altogether, we provide insight to both theoretically model and devise GNR-based nanostructures with tunable magnetic properties.