Charge-transfer-induced 2D ferromagnetism and realization of thermo-remnant memory effect in ultrathin ß-NiOOH-encapsulated graphene

Abstract

For graphene-based 2D materials, charge transfer at the interface between graphene and ferromagnetic metal leads to many intriguing phenomena. However, because of the unidirectional spin orientation in ferromagnetic transition metals, interface interaction plays a detrimental role in diminishing the magnetic parameters on 2D surfaces. To overcome this issue, we have synthesized ultrathin 2D weak antiferromagnetic β-NiOOH layers on a graphene surface. By exploiting the charge transfer effect and tuning the thickness of the thin β-NiOOH layers, conversion of ferromagnetism along with giant coercivity and the thermo-remnant magnetic memory effect were observed. As antiferromagnets have two spin orientations, transfer of charge at the interface breaks the nullifying effect of zero magnetization in antiferromagnets and the combined system behaves like a 2D ferrimagnet. Whenever, the sandwich structure of β-NiOOH/graphene/β-NiOOH is formed, it also shows interlayer exchange coupling those results in huge exchange bias and anomalous temperature dependence of coercivity. Due to the strong exchange interaction between the layers, the combined system also shows a robust temperature-based memory effect. Spin-polarized density functional theory was also calculated to confirm the interface interaction and its quantitative evaluation by means of Bader charge analysis and charge-density mapping.