Chern Insulator and Chern Half-Metal States in the Two-Dimensional Spin-Gapless Semiconductor Mn2C6S12

Aizhu Wang; Xiaoming Zhang; Yuanping Feng; Mingwen Zhao

doi:10.1021/acs.jpclett.7b01187

Chern Insulator and Chern Half-Metal States in the Two-Dimensional Spin-Gapless Semiconductor Mn₂C₆S₁₂

J Phys Chem Lett. 2017 Aug 17;8(16):3770-3775. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.7b01187. Epub 2017 Aug 1.

Authors

Aizhu Wang^{1

2}, Xiaoming Zhang¹, Yuanping Feng³, Mingwen Zhao¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Physics and State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials, Shandong University , Jinan 250100, Shandong, China.
² Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Department of Physics, National University of Singapore , Singapore 117579, Singapore.
³ Department of Physics & Centre for Advanced Two-Dimensional Materials, National University of Singapore , Singapore 117542, Singapore.

PMID: 28762733
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.7b01187

Abstract

Two-dimensional metal-organic frameworks (2D-MOFs) with exotic electronic structures are drawing increasing attention. Here, using first-principles calculations, we demonstrate a spin-gapless MOF, namely, Mn₂C₆S₁₂, with the coexistence of a spin-polarized Dirac cone and parabolic degenerate points. The Curie temperature evaluated from Monte Carlo simulations implies Mn₂C₆S₁₂ possessing stable ferromagnetism at room temperature. Taking the spin-orbit coupling into account, the Dirac cone is gapped and the degenerate points are lifted, giving rise to multiple topologically nontrivial states with nonzero Chern number, which imply the possibility of Mn₂C₆S₁₂ to be a Chern insulator and a Chern half-metal. Our results offer versatile platforms for achieving spin filtering or a quantum anomalous Hall effect with promising application in spintronics devices.