Abstract
Pioneering explorations of the two-dimensional (2D) inorganic layered crystals (ILCs) in electronics have boosted low-dimensional materials research beyond the prototypical but semi-metallic graphene. Thanks to species variety and compositional richness, ILCs are further activated as hosting matrices to reach intrinsic magnetism due to their semiconductive natures. Herein, we briefly review the latest progresses of manipulation strategies that introduce magnetism into the nonmagnetic 2D and quasi-2D ILCs from the first-principles computational perspectives. The matrices are concerned within naturally occurring species such as MoS2, MoSe2, WS2, BN, and synthetic monolayers such as ZnO and g-C2N. Greater attention is spent on nondestructive routes through magnetic dopant adsorption; defect engineering; and a combination of doping-absorbing methods. Along with structural stability and electric uniqueness from hosts, tailored magnetic properties are successfully introduced to low-dimensional ILCs. Different from the three-dimensional (3D) bulk or zero-dimensional (0D) cluster cases, origins of magnetism in the 2D space move past most conventional physical models. Besides magnetic interactions, geometric symmetry contributes a non-negligible impact on the magnetic properties of ILCs, and surprisingly leads to broken symmetry for magnetism. At the end of the review, we also propose possible combination routes to create 2D ILC magnetic semiconductors, tentative theoretical models based on topology for mechanical interpretations, and next-step first-principles research within the domain.
Highlights
The rediscovery of monolayer graphene has revolutionarily extended materials research by realizing a paradoxical concept, the “atomic crystal” [1,2]
Inlayer stability of the thin film is protected through a covalence bond between the carbon atoms, which allows the formation of the graphite as the layered crystal through the van der Waals force
In the Cr co-doped system, once two Cr ions were placed exactly mirror symmetric will lead to a smaller absolute value of the coupling energy, which leads to a higher likelihood of to each other onIttwo ofthat the changing slab, the whole system turned out to magnetic be antiferromagnetism (AFM)
Summary
The rediscovery of monolayer graphene has revolutionarily extended materials research by realizing a paradoxical concept, the “atomic crystal” [1,2]. The stability and host ability at 2D are not limited to carbon-based graphene nor synthetic mono-elemental layers. A large number of inorganic layered crystals (ILCs) exists as a naturally occurring species [7] Within such a category, layered transition-metal dichalcogenide (LTMD) is a typical group of minerals with fair abundance on earth. This work mainly concerns naturally occurring LTMD hosts due to their pioneering and representative roles in ILC research, and includes synthetic matrices such as the monolayer ZnO (m-ZnO), and graphene-like C2 N (g-C2 N). To fully benefit the structural uniqueness and stability of the ILC hosts, material manipulation routes are discussed as non-destructive routes of magnetic dopant adsorption, defect engineering, and a combination of doping and adsorbing. Physical mechanisms for magnetism are discussed in order to inspire theoretical progress that may solve the puzzles given by the computational results
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