# Bulk properties of van-der-Waals hard ferromagnet VI3

## TL;DR

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of VI3, revealing its structural transition, magnetic properties, and insulating behavior, positioning it as a promising candidate for low-dimensional magnetic and Mott insulator applications.

## Contribution

It offers the first detailed structural, magnetic, and electronic characterization of VI3, correcting previous structural models and confirming its status as a correlated Mott insulator.

## Key findings

- Structural transition at 79 K observed
- VI3 is a hard ferromagnet with high anisotropy
- Material is an insulator with a 0.67 eV band gap

## Abstract

We present comprehensive measurements of the structural, magnetic and electronic properties of layered van-der-Waals ferromagnet VI$_3$ down to low temperatures. Despite belonging to a well studied family of transition metal trihalides, this material has received very little attention. We outline, from high-resolution powder x-ray diffraction measurements, a corrected room-temperature crystal structure to that previously proposed and uncover a structural transition at 79 K, also seen in the heat capacity. Magnetization measurements confirm VI$_3$ to be a hard ferromagnet (9.1 kOe coercive field at 2 K) with a high degree of anisotropy, and the pressure dependence of the magnetic properties provide evidence for the two-dimensional nature of the magnetic order. Optical and electrical transport measurements show this material to be an insulator with an optical band gap of 0.67 eV - the previous theoretical predictions of d-band metallicity then lead us to believe VI$_3$ to be a correlated Mott insulator. Our latest band structure calculations support this picture and show good agreement with the experimental data. We suggest VI$_3$ to host great potential in the thriving field of low-dimensional magnetism and functional materials, together with opportunities to study and make use of low-dimensional Mott physics.