Nonvolatile switchable half-metallicity and magnetism in the MXene HfMnCO/ScCO multiferroic heterostructure

• Published in: Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP 2024-02, Vol.26 (6), p.5323-5332
• Main Authors: Wu, Changwei, Sun, Shanwei, Gong, Weiping, Li, Jiangyu, Wang, Xiao
• Format: Article
• ISSN: 1463-9076; 1463-9084
• DOI: 10.1039/d3cp04847k

Nonvolatile electrical control of two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) magnetism is important for spintronic devices. Here, using first-principles calculations, we systematically investigated the magnetic properties of the MXene Hf 2 MnC 2 O 2 combined with the ferroelectric MXene Sc 2 CO 2 . When flipping the electric polarization of Sc 2 CO 2 , a transition between a semiconductor and a half-metal occurs in the Hf 2 MnC 2 O 2 monolayer. Moreover, the ferromagnetic exchange parameter J 1 can be enhanced to 9.67 meV under polarized P ↑ of Sc 2 CO 2 , much larger than those of the pristine Hf 2 MnC 2 O 2 monolayer and Hf 2 MnC 2 O 2 /Sc 2 CO 2 - P ↓. In addition, the easy magnetization axis of the Hf 2 MnC 2 O 2 monolayer is also dependent on the polarization orientation of Sc 2 CO 2 . Our results indicate a multiferroic heterostructure based on MXenes, offering an effective way for obtaining nonvolatile electrical control of electronic and magnetic properties. Nonvolatile electrical control of two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) magnetism is important for spintronic devices.