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Scale‐Enhanced Magnetism in Exfoliated Atomically Thin Magnetite Sheets
Author(s) -
Puthirath Anand B.,
Shirodkar Sharmila N.,
Gao Guanhui,
Hernandez Francisco C. Robles,
Deng Liangzi,
Dahal Rabin,
Apte Amey,
Costin Gelu,
Chakingal Nithya,
Balan Aravind Puthirath,
Sassi Lucas M.,
Tiwary Chandra Sekhar,
Vajtai Robert,
Chu ChingWu,
Yakobson Boris I.,
Ajayan Pulickel M.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.202004208
Subject(s) - magnetite , materials science , magnetism , ferrimagnetism , magnetization , condensed matter physics , ferromagnetism , van der waals force , density functional theory , magnetic field , metallurgy , chemistry , physics , computational chemistry , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , molecule
The discovery of ferromagnetism in atomically thin layers at room temperature widens the prospects of 2D materials for device applications. Recently, two independent experiments demonstrated magnetic ordering in two dissimilar 2D systems, CrI 3 and Cr 2 Ge 2 Te 6 , at low temperatures and in VSe 2 at room temperature, but observation of intrinsic room‐temperature magnetism in 2D materials is still a challenge. Here a transition at room temperature that increases the magnetization in magnetite while thinning down the bulk material to a few atom‐thick sheets is reported. DC magnetization measurements prove ferrimagnetic ordering with increased magnetization and density functional theory calculations ascribe their origin to the low dimensionality of the magnetite layers. In addition, surface energy calculations for different cleavage planes in passivated magnetite crystal agree with the experimental observations of obtaining 2D sheets from non‐van der Waals crystals.