Evidence Of 2D Room-Temperature Magnetic Semiconductors

What Has Been Achieved:

Evidence in both experiment and theory for magnetism in 2D doped semiconductors. Intrinsic magnetism in such a system would yield fascinating electro-magneto-optical effects such as effective local fields of ~100 Tesla that split the K and K’ bandstructures, i.e. valleytronics. 

Importance of the Achievement:

2D magnetic semiconductors have been a holy grail – challenges here that need to be overcome include dopant aggregation (dopants tend energetically to aggregate near each other and in that configuration they tend to not be magnetic). Here the team has developed synthesis methods that appear to suppress dopant aggregation and thereby allow magnetism to be achieved in 2D semiconductors.

Unique Feature(s) of the MIP that Enabled this Achievement:

Comprehensive team-based approach that brings together external and internal collaborators and deploys predictive design of 2D materials and growth kinetics.

Publication:

Adv. Sci. 2020, 7, 2001174. DOI: 10.1002/advs.202001174

Acknowledgments:

Efforts in synthesis were supported by the NSF-IUCRC Center for Atomically Thin Multifunctional Coatings (ATOMIC),  the 2D Crystal Consortium–Materials Innovation Platform (2DCC-MIP) under NSF cooperative agreement DMR-1539916, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research through Grant No. FA9550-18-1-0072. Theory efforts were supported by the Two-Dimensional Crystal Consortium (2DCC-MIP). Magnetic measurements were supported by U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering under Award No. DE-FG02-07ER46438 and the VISCOSTONE USA under Award No. 1253113200. P. E. H. appreciates support from NSF Grant No. DMR EPM 2006231 and NSF I/UCRC on Multi-functional Integrated System Technology (MIST) Center; IIP-1439644, IIP-1439680, IIP-1738752, IIP-1939009, IIP-1939050, and IIP-1939012.