Modulation of Metal and Insulator States in 2D Ferromagnetic VS2 by van der Waals Interaction Engineering

Yuqiao Guo; Haitao Deng; Xu Sun; Xiuling Li; Jiyin Zhao; Junchi Wu; Wangsheng Chu; Sijia Zhang; Haibin Pan; Xusheng Zheng; Xiaojun Wu; Changqing Jin; Changzheng Wu; Yi Xie

doi:10.1002/adma.201700715

Modulation of Metal and Insulator States in 2D Ferromagnetic VS₂ by van der Waals Interaction Engineering

Adv Mater. 2017 Aug;29(29). doi: 10.1002/adma.201700715. Epub 2017 Jun 6.

Authors

Yuqiao Guo¹, Haitao Deng¹, Xu Sun¹, Xiuling Li², Jiyin Zhao¹, Junchi Wu¹, Wangsheng Chu³, Sijia Zhang⁴, Haibin Pan³, Xusheng Zheng³, Xiaojun Wu², Changqing Jin⁴, Changzheng Wu¹, Yi Xie¹

Affiliations

¹ Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, and, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Centre of Chemistry for Energy Materials), University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, P. R. China.
² CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, School of Chemistry and Materials Sciences, and, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, China.
³ National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230029, P. R. China.
⁴ Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing, 100190, China.

PMID: 28585239
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201700715

Abstract

2D transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are currently the key to the development of nanoelectronics. However, TMDCs are predominantly nonmagnetic, greatly hindering the advancement of their spintronic applications. Here, an experimental realization of intrinsic magnetic ordering in a pristine TMDC lattice is reported, bringing a new class of ferromagnetic semiconductors among TMDCs. Through van der Waals (vdW) interaction engineering of 2D vanadium disulfide (VS₂ ), dual regulation of spin properties and bandgap brings about intrinsic ferromagnetism along with a small bandgap, unravelling the decisive role of vdW gaps in determining the electronic states in 2D VS₂ . An overall control of the electronic states of VS₂ is also demonstrated: bond-enlarging triggering a metal-to-semiconductor electronic transition and bond-compression inducing metallization in 2D VS₂ . The pristine VS₂ lattice thus provides a new platform for precise manipulation of both charge and spin degrees of freedom in 2D TMDCs availing spintronic applications.

Keywords: 2D materials; ferromagnetic TMDCs; hydrostatic pressure; metal-to-insulator transition; van der Waals interaction engineering.