Janus design toward fabricating ferromagnetic graphene nanoribbons

Abstract

Janus, the two-faced Roman god symbolizing the past and future, has inspired material science with “Janus” structures, characterized by differing properties on opposite sides. Reporting in Nature, Lu, Louie, Sakaguchi, and co-workers recently realized this concept in an asymmetrical one-dimensional graphene strip with contrasting edges, termed the “Janus graphene nanoribbon,” which exhibits a unique and intriguing magnetism.