skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Title: Electronic structure and magnetic exchange interactions of Cr-based van der Waals ferromagnets. A comparative study between CrBr 3 and Cr 2 Ge 2 Te 6
Low dimensional magnetism has been powerfully boosted as a promising candidate for numerous applications. The stability of the long-range magnetic order is directly dependent on the electronic structure and the relative strength of the competing magnetic exchange constants. Here, we report a comparative pressure-dependent theoretical and experimental study of the electronic structure and exchange interactions of two-dimensional ferromagnets CrBr 3 and Cr 2 Ge 2 Te 6 . While CrBr 3 is found to be a Mott–Hubbard-like insulator, Cr 2 Ge 2 Te 6 shows a charge-transfer character due to the broader character of the Te 5p bands at the Fermi level. This different electronic behaviour is responsible for the robust insulating state of CrBr 3 , in which the magnetic exchange constants evolve monotonically with pressure, and the proximity to a metal–insulator transition predicted for Cr 2 Ge 2 Te 6 , which causes a non-monotonic evolution of its magnetic ordering temperature. We provide a microscopic understanding for the pressure evolution of the magnetic properties of the two systems.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1729588 1949701 1720595
PAR ID:
10284580
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of Materials Chemistry C
Volume:
8
Issue:
39
ISSN:
2050-7526
Page Range / eLocation ID:
13582 to 13589
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. All van der Waals Fe 3 GeTe 2 /Cr 2 Ge 2 Te 6 /graphite magnetic heterojunctions have been fabricated via mechanical exfoliation and stacking, and their magnetotransport properties are studied in detail. At low bias voltages, large negative junction magnetoresistances have been observed and are attributed to spin-conserving tunneling transport across an insulating Cr 2 Ge 2 Te 6 layer. With increasing bias, a crossover to Fowler–Nordheim tunneling takes place. The negative sign of the tunneling magnetoresistance suggests that the bottom of a conduction band in Cr 2 Ge 2 Te 6 belongs to minority spins, opposite to the findings of some first-principles calculations. This work shows that the vdW heterostructures based on 2D magnetic insulators are a valuable platform to gain further insight into spin polarized tunneling transport, which is the basis for pursuing high performance spintronic devices and a large variety of quantum phenomena. 
    more » « less
  2. Abstract Being able to electrically manipulate the magnetic properties in recently discovered van der Waals ferromagnets is essential for their integration in future spintronics devices. Here, the magnetization of a semiconducting 2D ferromagnet, i.e., Cr2Ge2Te6, is studied using the anomalous Hall effect in Cr2Ge2Te6/tantalum heterostructures. The thinner the flakes, hysteresis and remanence in the magnetization loop with out‐of‐plane magnetic fields become more prominent. In order to manipulate the magnetization in such thin flakes, a combination of an in‐plane magnetic field and a charge current flowing through Ta—a heavy metal exhibiting giant spin Hall effect—is used. In the presence of in‐plane fields of 20 mT, charge current densities as low as 5 × 105A cm–2are sufficient to switch the out‐of‐plane magnetization of Cr2Ge2Te6. This finding highlights that current densities required for spin‐orbit torque switching of Cr2Ge2Te6are about two orders of magnitude lower than those required for switching nonlayered metallic ferromagnets such as CoFeB. The results presented here show the potential of 2D ferromagnets for low‐power memory and logic applications. 
    more » « less
  3. Abstract A novel transition metal chalcohalide [Cr7S8(en)8Cl2]Cl3 ⋅ 2H2O, with [Cr7S8]5+dicubane cationic clusters, has been synthesized by a low temperature solvothermal method, using dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and ethylenediamine (en) solvents. Ethylenediamine ligand exhibits bi‐ and monodentate coordination modes; in the latter case ethylenediamine coordinates to Cr atoms of adjacent clusters, giving rise to a 2D polymeric structure. Although magnetic susceptibility shows no magnetic ordering down to 1.8 K, a highly negative Weiss constant,θ=−224(2) K, obtained from Curie‐Weiss fit of inverse susceptibility, suggests strong antiferromagnetic (AFM) interactions betweenS=3/2 Cr(III) centers. Due to the complexity of the system with (2S+1)7=16384 microstates from seven Cr3+centers, a simplified model with only two exchange constants was used for simulations. Density‐functional theory (DFT) calculations yielded the two exchange constants to beJ1=−21.4 cm−1andJ2=−30.2 cm−1, confirming competing AFM coupling between the shared Cr3+center and the peripheral Cr3+ions of the dicubane cluster. The best simulation of the experimental data was obtained withJ1=−20.0 cm−1andJ2=−21.0 cm−1, in agreement with the slightly stronger AFM exchange within the triangles of the peripheral Cr3+ions as compared to the AFM exchange between the central and peripheral Cr3+ions. This compound is proposed as a synthon towards magnetically frustrated systems assembled by linking dicubane transition metal‐chalcogenide clusters into polymeric networks. 
    more » « less
  4. Abstract Covalent 2D magnets such as Cr2Te3, which feature self‐intercalated magnetic cations located between monolayers of transition‐metal dichalcogenide material, offer a unique platform for controlling magnetic order and spin texture, enabling new potential applications for spintronic devices. Here, it is demonstrated that the unconventional anomalous Hall effect (AHE) in Cr2Te3, characterized by additional humps and dips near the coercive field in AHE hysteresis, originates from an intrinsic mechanism dictated by the self‐intercalation. This mechanism is distinctly different from previously proposed mechanisms such as topological Hall effect, or two‐channel AHE arising from spatial inhomogeneities. Crucially, multiple Weyl‐like nodes emerge in the electronic band structure due to strong spin‐orbit coupling, whose positions relative to the Fermi level is sensitively modulated by the canting angles of the self‐intercalated Cr cations. These nodes contribute strongly to the Berry curvature and AHE conductivity. This component competes with the contribution from bands that are less affected by the self‐intercalation, resulting in a sign change in AHE with temperature and the emergence of additional humps and dips. The findings provide compelling evidence for the intrinsic origin of the unconventional AHE in Cr2Te3 and further establish self‐intercalation as a control knob for engineering AHE in complex magnets. 
    more » « less
  5. The synthesis, crystal structure determination, magnetic properties and bonding interaction analysis of a novel 3 d transition-metal complex, [CrBr 2 (NCCH 3 ) 4 ](Br 3 ), are reported. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction results show that [CrBr 2 (NCCH 3 ) 4 ](Br 3 ) crystallizes in space group C 2/ m (No. 12) with a symmetric tribromide anion and the powder X-ray diffraction results show the high purity of the material specimen. X-ray photoelectron studies with a combination of magnetic measurements demonstrate that Cr adopts the 3+ oxidation state. Based on the Curie–Weiss analysis of magnetic susceptibility data, the Néel temperature is found to be around 2.2 K and the effective moment (μ eff ) of Cr 3+ in [CrBr 2 (NCCH 3 ) 4 ](Br 3 ) is ∼3.8 µ B , which agrees with the theoretical value for Cr 3+ . The direct current magnetic susceptibility of the molecule shows a broad maximum at ∼2.3 K, which is consistent with the theoretical Néel temperature. The maximum temperature, however, shows no clear frequency dependence. Combined with the observed upturn in heat capacity below 2.3 K and the corresponding field dependence, it is speculated that the low-temperature magnetic feature of a broad transition in [CrBr 2 (NCCH 3 ) 4 ](Br 3 ) could originate from a crossover from high spin to low spin for the split d orbital level low-lying states rather than a short-range ordering solely; this is also supported by the molecular orbital diagram obtained from theoretical calculations. 
    more » « less