Stacking and Layer dependence of magnetic properties in Ti\textsubscript{2}C and Fe\textsubscript{2}C

TL;DR

This study uses DFT calculations to explore how layer thickness and stacking influence the magnetic properties of Ti₂C and Fe₂C MXenes, revealing significant effects especially in Fe₂C, which could inform future device applications.

Contribution

It provides a microscopic understanding of how layer number and stacking patterns affect magnetism in Ti₂C and Fe₂C MXenes, highlighting the tunability of magnetic properties.

Findings

Layer thickness alters magnetic ground states in both materials.

Stacking pattern significantly impacts Fe₂C's magnetic properties.

Fe₂C's magnetic properties can be tuned for device applications.

Abstract

Magnetic MXenes are turning out to be an important family of materials for exploring 2D magnetism. However, investigations into the inter-dependence of layer thickness, stacking patterns and magnetism in these materials, from a microscopic point of view, is still lacking. In this work, we have used Density Functional Theory (DFT) based calculations to understand the effects of layer thickness and stacking on the magnetic properties in two magnetic MXenes, Ti$_{2}$C and Fe$_{2}$C in their monolayer and bilayer forms. The ground state magnetic structures, magnetic moments, magnetic exchange interactions, magnetic transition temperatures and magnetic anisotropy energies are calculated and analysed using their electronic structures and standardised models. We find that in both systems increase in layer thickness (monolayer to bilayer) affects the ground state magnetic configuration which is driven by the changes in the magnetic exchange interactions. While the effects of stacking pattern is rather weak in Ti$_{2}$C, they are substantial, both qualitatively and quantitatively in Fe$_{2}$C. The computed results are analysed from their electronic structures. The results suggest that fascinating physical effects can be obtained in Fe$_{2}$C by tuning the layer thickness and stacking patterns, making it more suitable for device applications.