Theoretical investigation on the ferromagnetic two-dimensional scandium monochloride sheet that has a high Curie temperature and could be exfoliated from a known material

TL;DR

This paper uses density functional theory to explore a 2D scandium monochloride sheet, revealing its potential for spintronics due to its ferromagnetic properties, high Curie temperature, and tunability via doping.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical prediction of a ferromagnetic 2D scandium monochloride sheet with high Curie temperature and doping-induced half-metallicity, suggesting its suitability for spintronic applications.

Findings

Exfoliable from bulk with low cleavage energy

Ferromagnetic ground state with 100 K Curie temperature

Doping raises Curie temperature to 250 K and induces half-metallicity

Abstract

A two-dimensional scandium monochloride sheet was investigated by using density functional theory. It could be exfoliated from a known bulk material with a cleavage energy slightly lower than that of graphene. The sheet has a ferromagnetic ground state with a Curie temperature of 100 K. Moreover, the sheet becomes a half-metal under hole doping. The Curie temperature increases to 250 K with the doping amount of 0.4 per primitive cell, which is close to the ice point. The two-dimensional scandium monochloride sheet should be a good candidate for two-dimensional spintronics.