On the possibility of contact-induced spin polarization in interfaces of armchair nanotubes with transition metal substrates

•Interaction of armchair nanotubes with ferromagnetic metal surfaces was investigated.•Different configurations of nanotube's location were considered.•For all nanotubes the energy difference between configurations is negligible.•Nanotubes were found to be more or less spin-polarized regarding to the configuration.•BN nanotubes demonstrate vanishing of the band gap and contact-induced conductivity

The interaction between armchair carbon and boron nitride nanotubes (NT) with ferromagnetic transition metal (TM) surfaces, namely, Ni(111) and Co(0001), was studied by means of density functional theory. Different configurations of composite compartments mutual arrangement were considered. Partial densities of states and spin density spatial distribution of optimized structures were investigated. Influence of ferromagnetic substrate on nanotubes’ electronic properties was discussed. The values of spin polarization magnitude at the Fermi level are also presented and confirm the patterns of spin density spatial distribution.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide