Scale‐Enhanced Magnetism in Exfoliated Atomically Thin Magnetite Sheets

Abstract

The discovery of ferromagnetism in atomically thin layers at room temperature widens the prospects of 2D materials for device applications. Recently, two independent experiments demonstrated magnetic ordering in two dissimilar 2D systems, CrI3 and Cr2Ge2Te6, at low temperatures and in VSe2 at room temperature, but observation of intrinsic room‐temperature magnetism in 2D materials is still a challenge. Here a transition at room temperature that increases the magnetization in magnetite while thinning down the bulk material to a few atom‐thick sheets is reported. DC magnetization measurements prove ferrimagnetic ordering with increased magnetization and density functional theory calculations ascribe their origin to the low dimensionality of the magnetite layers. In addition, surface energy calculations for different cleavage planes in passivated magnetite crystal agree with the experimental observations of obtaining 2D sheets from non‐van der Waals crystals.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Oct 20, 2020
Source ID
10.1002/smll.202004208

Entities

People

  • Amey Apte
  • Anand B Puthirath
  • Aravind Puthirath Balan
  • Boris I Yakobson
  • Chandra Sekhar Tiwary
  • Ching‐wu Chu
  • Francisco C. Robles Hernández
  • Gelu Costin
  • Guanhui Gao
  • Liangzi Deng
  • Lucas M. Sassi
  • Nithya Chakingal
  • Pulickel Ajayan
  • Rabin Dahal
  • Robert Vajtai
  • Sharmila N. Shirodkar

Organizations

  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • Army Research Office
  • Coordenação de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
  • Indo-US Science and Technology Forum
  • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  • Rice University
  • Science and Engineering Research Board
  • United States Department of Energy
  • University of Houston

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Materials Science and Engineering.
  • Quantum Dot Semiconductor Device Photonics and Graphene Optoelectronic Materials and THz Physics.
  • Superconducting Magnet Technology