Possible way to achieve anomalous valley Hall effect by tunable intrinsic piezoelectric polarization in FeO$_2$SiGeN$_2$ monolayer

TL;DR

This paper proposes a Janus monolayer FeO$_2$SiGeN$_2$ with coupled valley Hall effect and piezoelectricity, demonstrating tunable phase transitions and potential for valleytronics and piezotronics applications through first-principles calculations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel 2D Janus material exhibiting coexistence and coupling of valley Hall effect and piezoelectricity, with tunable electronic phases and polarization properties.

Findings

Large valley polarization (~120 meV) achieved.

In-plane piezoelectric polarization with d11 of -0.714.03 pm/V.

Electronic correlation induces phase transitions from ferrovalley to quantum anomalous Hall.

Abstract

Valley-related multiple Hall effect and piezoelectric response are novel transport characteristics in low-dimensional system, however few studies have reported their coexistence in a single system as well as their coupling relationships. By first-principles calculations, we propose a multifunctional Janus semiconductor, i.e. FeO$_2$SiGeN$_2$ monolayer with large valley polarization of about 120 meV and in-plane piezoelectric polarization with d11 of -0.714.03 pm/V. The magnetic anisotropy energy can be significantly regulated by electronic correlation strength and strain, which can be attributed to the change of competition relationship about Fe-3d-resolved magnetic anisotropy energy brought about by external regulatory means. Electronic correlation strength can induce phase transitions in Janus FeO$_2$SiGeN$_2$ monolayer from ferrovalley to quantum anomalous Hall phase, while the half-valley metallic state as the boundary of the phase transition can gererate 100% spin- and valley polarization. The related phase transition mechanism is analyzed based on the two-band strained kp model. The presence of piezoelectric strain coefficients d11 in valleytronic material makes the coupling between charge degrees of freedom and valley degrees of freedom possible, and the intrinsic electric field caused by the in-plane piezoelectric response provide the way to realize piezoelectric anomalous valley Hall effect. This work may pave a way to find a new member of materials with valley-related multiple Hall effect and stimulate further experimental works related to valleytronics and piezotronics.