Induction of an atomically thin ferromagnetic semiconductor in 1T′ phase ReS2 by doping with transition metals

Publication date: Available online 8 August 2019Source: Physics Letters AAuthor(s): Jing Pan, Xiaoyu Zhou, Jiansheng Zhong, Jingguo HuAbstractTwo-dimensional 1T′ phase ReS2, a transition metal dichalcogenide, has a unique structure and electronic properties that are independent of thickness. The pure phase is a nonmagnetic semiconductor. Using density functional theory calculations, we show that ReS2 can be tuned to a magnetic semiconductor by doping with transition metal atoms. The magnetism mainly comes from the dopant transition metal and neighboring Re and S atoms as a result of competition between exchange splitting and crystal field splitting. ReS2 doped with Co can be considered as a promising diluted magnetic semiconductor owing to its strong ferromagnetism with long-range ferromagnetic interaction, high Curie temperature (above room temperature) and good stability. These findings may stimulate experimental validation and facilitate the development of new atomically thin diluted magnetic semiconductors based on transition metal dichalcogenides.

Source: Physics Letters A - August 9, 2019 Category: Physics Source Type: research