Prediction of Intrinsic Ferromagnetic Ferroelectricity in a Transition-Metal Halide Monolayer
Open Access
- 2 April 2018
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review Letters
- Vol. 120 (14), 147601
- https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.147601
Abstract
The realization of multiferroics in nanostructures, combined with a large electric dipole and ferromagnetic ordering, could lead to new applications, such as high-density multistate data storage. Although multiferroics have been broadly studied for decades, ferromagnetic ferroelectricity is rarely explored, especially in two-dimensional (2D) systems. Here we report the discovery of 2D ferromagnetic ferroelectricity in layered transition-metal halide systems. On the basis of first-principles calculations, we reveal that a charged CrBr3 monolayer exhibits in-plane multiferroicity, which is ensured by the combination of orbital and charge ordering as realized by the asymmetric Jahn-Teller distortions of octahedral Cr-Br-6 units. As an example, we further show that (CrBr3)(2) Li is a ferromagnetic ferroelectric multiferroic. The explored phenomena and mechanism of multiferroics in this 2D system not only are useful for fundamental research in multiferroics but also enable a wide range of applications in nanodevices.Funding Information
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (51522206, 51790492, 11574151, 11774173)
- Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20130031)
- Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-12-0628)
- PAPD
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (30915011203)
- Tianjing Supercomputer Centre
- Shanghai Supercomputer Center
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