Tuning Magnetism of Zirconium Disulfide Nanoribbons by Strain*

Monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides have recently attracted considerable attention due to their unusual physical properties and potential applications in nanoscale electronic devices. We carried out \textit{ab initio} density functional calculations to study the electronic and magnetic properties of strained ZrS$_2$ nanoribbons. Our calculations demonstrated that ZrS$_2$ nanoribbons without edge passivation were non-magnetic. In contrast, we found that ZrS$_2$ nanoribbons passivated with hydrogen atoms could switch between the regimes of magnetic and non-magnetic behaviour. Our study showed that edge-passivated armchair ZrS$_2$ nanoribbons were magnetic under applied strain up to 6\%,whereas zigzag ZrS$_2$ nanoribbons were magnetic under applied strain between 7\% and 12\%. The results of our calculations suggested the possibility of tuning the magnetism of ZrS$_2$ nanoribbons by changing the applied strain.