Unlocking high coercivity at room temperature in phase modified MoS$_2$

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that phase-modified 1T MoS₂ nanosheets exhibit high coercivity and ferromagnetism at room temperature, with potential applications in spintronics and quantum devices.

Contribution

It reports the highest coercivity in 2D magnets at room temperature by controlling the 1T phase in MoS₂ nanosheets.

Findings

Ferromagnetism with coercivity ~0.3 T at room temperature.

Maximum saturation magnetization of 0.26 emu/g.

Correlation between interplanar distance and magnetic properties.

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) materials showing room-temperature magnetism and high coercivity are desired for combining magnetism with semiconducting properties useful for spintronics. In this work, the magnetic properties of the 1T phase of MoS$_2$ have been studied at room temperature. We observe ferromagnetism with a coercivity of ~0.3 T and a maximum saturation magnetization of 0.26 emu/g at room temperature. This is the highest among coercivities reported so far in 2D magnets at room temperature. MoS$_2$ nanosheets are prepared using a single-step hydrothermal synthesis with a relative 1T-phase reaching up to 77%. We report a correlation between the structural and magnetic characteristics via interplanar distance and coercivity. The increase in interplanar distance is also accompanied by an increase in the 1T phase. Our results pave a useful way of controlling the coercivity and saturation magnetization in a 2D magnet with applications in spintronics and low-power quantum devices.