Tunable electronic and magnetic properties of two-dimensional magnetic semiconductor VIBr[formula omitted

Abstract

The recent discovery of two-dimensional (2D) magnetic materials have attracted interest of the scientific community due to their potential applications in spintronics. In this work, we demonstrate by using density functional theory calculations that VIBr2 is a magnetic semiconductor. To tune the electronic and magnetic properties, we consider the application of biaxial strain (η), electric field (Ez) and combination of both. We find the phase transition from semiconductor → half-metal → metal, with ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic ground states under different excitations. The maximum enhancement in Curie temperature is ∼1126% under application of external stimuli. The presence of various unique properties predicted by our detailed calculations give evidence that VIBr2 can be a promising candidate for future spintronic applications.