Interacting Spins and Holes in Zigzag Edge Nanographene.

We have investigated charge and spin gap properties of zigzag edge graphene nanoribbons (ZGNRs) modeled within Hubbard Hamiltonian with onsite electron-electron interaction using semi-empirical many-body configuration interaction (CI) method. The charge gap behavior resembles the mean-field results, showing minima near Dirac point. We have observed unprecedented gap-less spin excitations over the flat band region. Moreover, doping the ZGNRs with holes reduces both the charge and spin gaps, inducing metallic and magnetic behavior, which can be exploited to fabricate spintronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]