Structural and magneto-electronic properties of transition metal doped phosphorus nanotubes

One-dimensional phosphorus nanotubes (PNTs) are important derivatives of phosphorene. Herein, the magneto-electronic properties for PNTs doped with low-concentration transition metals (TM) (Fe, Co, and Ni) both in their inner and outer layers were investigated in detail. TM-PNTs are very stable with high structural integrity and versatile magnetic properties. In particular, some important magnetic properties such as half-metallic and dilute magnetic semiconducting behaviors can be observed, which are the basis of the application of TM-PNTs in spintronics. Furthermore, the electric field can induce magnetic phase transitions and demagnetization can occur under a very low electric field due to Co-doping in the outer layer of the PNTs. This interesting feature is very attractive for constructing electric-field-controllable magnetic/nonmagnetic switch devices that are operated in two possible states.