Intrinsic room-temperature ferromagnetism in two-dimensional ternary transition metal tellurides CrX2Te4 (X = Al, Ga, and In)
He Huang,
Yanzhe Zhao,
Zeyu Zhang,
Liming Wang,
Yanfei Wu,
Chuang Liu,
Jiapeng Zhao,
Guanxiong Qiao,
Jingyan Zhang,
Xinqi Zheng,
Shiming Zhou,
Shouguo Wang
Affiliations
He Huang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Materials Genome Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Yanzhe Zhao
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Materials Genome Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Zeyu Zhang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Materials Genome Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Liming Wang
Anhui Key Laboratory of Magnetic Functional Materials and Devices, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China
Yanfei Wu
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Materials Genome Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Chuang Liu
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Materials Genome Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Jiapeng Zhao
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Materials Genome Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Guanxiong Qiao
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Materials Genome Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Jingyan Zhang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Materials Genome Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Xinqi Zheng
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Materials Genome Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Shiming Zhou
Anhui Key Laboratory of Magnetic Functional Materials and Devices, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China
Shouguo Wang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Materials Genome Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
A tremendous amount of research has witnessed the exploration of two-dimensional (2D) materials with intrinsic ferromagnetism and diverse physical properties. However, the low Curie temperature and deficient magnetic anisotropy hinder their practical applications in nanoscale spintronics. Based on first-principles calculations, we propose a new family of 2D ternary transition metal tellurides, CrX2Te4 (X = Al, Ga, and In), with both structural and magnetic stabilities at room temperature. Our calculations demonstrate that the 2D CrX2Te4 crystal exhibits the intrinsic 100% spin-polarized half-metallic feature with spin-up metallic and spin-down semi-conducting properties. With the remarkable magnetic moment of 4 μB per Cr atom, both 2D CrAl2Te4 and CrGa2Te4 crystals perform robust ferromagnetism with the out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy, while the 2D CrIn2Te4 crystal prefers the in-plane easy magnetization axis. The Monte Carlo simulation based on the 2D Heisenberg model shows that the critical Curie temperatures of the 2D CrAl2Te4, CrGa2Te4, and CrIn2Te4 crystals could reach 466, 431, and 536 K, respectively. Moreover, the magnetic exchange strength and magnetic anisotropy could be further enhanced by the in-plane biaxial strain. The novel electronic and magnetic features promote 2D CrX2Te4 (X = Al, Ga, and In) crystals as a new family of two-dimensional intrinsic ferromagnetic materials for next-generation advanced spintronics.
