Magnetism of C adatoms on BN nanostructures: implications for functional nanodevices.

Spin-polarized density functional calculations reveal that magnetism can be induced by carbon adatoms on boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) and BN hexagonal sheets. As a result of the localization of impurity states, these hybrid sp-electron systems are spin-polarized, with a local magnetic moment of 2.0 mu(B) per C adatom regardless of the tube diameter and the bonding between the C atom and the BNNTs/BN sheets. An analysis of orbital hybridization indicates that two valence electrons participate in the bonding and the remaining two electrons of the C adatom are confined at the adsorption site and contribute to the magnetism accordingly. The effective interaction distance between the C-induced magnetic moments is evaluated. In terms of the diffusion barrier and the adsorption energy of C adatoms on the BN nanotubes/sheets, a fabrication method for BN-C-based functional nanodevices is proposed, and a series of virtual building blocks for functional devices are illustrated.