Ultrathin nanosheets of CrSiTe3: a semiconducting two-dimensional ferromagnetic material. Issue 2 (9th December 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lin, Ming-Wei; Zhuang, Houlong L.; Yan, Jiaqiang; Ward, Thomas Zac; Puretzky, Alexander A.; Rouleau, Christopher M.; Gai, Zheng; Liang, Liangbo; Meunier, Vincent; Sumpter, Bobby G.; Ganesh, Panchapakesan; Kent, Paul R. C.; Geohegan, David B.; Mandrus, David G.; Xiao, Kai
• Is Part Of: Journal of materials chemistry. Volume 4:Issue 2(2016)
• Page Start: 315
• Page End: 322
• Publication Date: 2015-12-09
• Subjects: Materials -- Periodicals; Chemistry, Analytic -- Periodicals; Optical materials -- Research -- Periodicals; Electronics -- Materials -- Research -- Periodicals; 543.0284
• DOI: 10.1039/c5tc03463a
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2050-7526

Abstract

Abstract : Two-dimensional ferromagnetic monolayer and few-layer CrSiTe3 crystals are prepared for the first time from the bulk crystals by a simple mechanical exfoliation method. Abstract : Finite range ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism in two-dimensional (2D) systems within an isotropic Heisenberg model at non-zero temperature were originally proposed to be impossible. However, recent theoretical studies using an Ising model have shown that 2D magnetic crystals can exhibit magnetism. Experimental verification of existing 2D magnetic crystals in this system has remained exploratory. In this work we exfoliated CrSiTe3, a bulk ferromagnetic semiconductor, to mono- and few-layer 2D crystals onto a Si/SiO2 substrate. Raman spectra indicate good stability and high quality of the exfoliated flakes, consistent with the computed phonon spectra of 2D CrSiTe3, giving strong evidence for the existence of 2D CrSiTe3 crystals. When the thickness of the CrSiTe3 crystals is reduced to a few layers, we observed a clear change in resistivity at 80–120 K, consistent with theoretical calculations of the Curie temperature ( T c ) of ∼80 K for the magnetic ordering of 2D CrSiTe3 crystals. The ferromagnetic mono- and few-layer 2D CrSiTe3 indicated here should enable numerous applications in nano-spintronics.