Transition from half metal to semiconductor in Li doped g-C4N3

We have investigated the structural and magnetic properties of Li doped graphitic carbon nitride (g-C4N3) using the van der Waals density functional theory. A free standing g-C4N3 was known to show a half metallic state with buckling geometry, but this feature completely disappears in the presence of Li doping. Besides this structural modification, very interestingly, we have obtained that the Li doped g-C4N3 shows dramatic change in its electronic structure. Both ferromagnetic and nonmagnetic states are almost degenerated in one Li atom doped system. However, the transition from half metallic state to semiconductor is observed with further increase of Li concentration and the calculated energy gap is 1.97 eV. We found that Li impurity plays as a donor element and charge transfer from the Li atom to neighboring N atoms induces a band gap. Overall, we have observed that the electronic and magnetic properties of g-C4N3 are substantially modified by Li doping.