A high-efficiency spin polarizer based on edge and surface disordered silicene nanoribbons

Highlights: • The fashion of the conductance varies with disorder, and depends strongly on the type of disorder. • A nearly perfect spin polarization can be attained by adjusting both the local electric field and the exchange field. • The near-perfect spin polarization can be realized in SNRs with a weak edge or surface disorder. - Abstract: Using the tight-binding formalism, we explore the effect of weak disorder upon the conductance of zigzag edge silicene nanoribbons (SiNRs), in the limit of phase-coherent transport. We find that the fashion of the conductance varies with disorder, and depends strongly on the type of disorder. Conductance dips are observed at the Van Hove singularities, owing to quasilocalized states existing in surface disordered SiNRs. A conductance gap is observed around the Fermi energy for both edge and surface disordered SiNRs, because edge states are localized. The average conductance of the disordered SiNRs decreases exponentially with the increase of disorder, and finally tends to disappear. The near-perfect spin polarization can be realized in SiNRs with a weak edge or surface disorder, and also can be attained by both the local electric field and the exchange field.