Enhanced Room Temperature Ferromagnetism in Highly Strained 2D Semiconductor Cr<sub>2</sub>Ge<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>6</sub>.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 36546693.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1021/acsnano.2c10209.
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Abstract
Emergent magnetism in van der Waals materials offers exciting opportunities in fabricating atomically thin spintronic devices. One pertinent obstacle has been the low transition temperatures (<i>T</i><sub>c</sub>) inherent to these materials, precluding room temperature applications. Here, we show that large structural gradients found in highly strained nanoscale wrinkles in Cr<sub>2</sub>Ge<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>6</sub> (CGT) lead to significant increases of <i>T</i><sub>c</sub>. Magnetic force microscopy was utilized in characterizing multiple strained CGT nanostructures leading to experimental evidence of elevated <i>T</i><sub>c</sub>, depending on the strain percentage estimated from finite element analysis. Our findings are further supported by <i>ab initio</i> and DFT studies of the strained material, which indicates that strain directly augments the ferromagnetic coupling between Cr atoms in CGT, influenced by superexchange interaction; this provides strong insight into the mechanism of the enhanced magnetism and <i>T</i><sub>c</sub>.