Above room-temperature two-dimensional ferromagnetic half-metals in Mn-based Janus magnets

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnets and their heterostructures offer fertile grounds for designing fascinating functionalities in ultra-thin spintronic devices. Here, by first-principles calculations, we report the discovery of energetically and thermodynamically stable 2D ferromagnets with very strong in-plane magnetic anisotropy in MnXY (X = S and Se; Y = Cl, Br, and I) monolayers. Remarkably, we find that the Curie temperatures of the ferromagnetic MnSBr, MnSI, MnSeCl, and MnSeI monolayers are as high as 271, 273, 231, and 418 K, respectively. In addition, we demonstrate that these ferromagnetic monolayers are intrinsic half-metals with large spin bandgaps ranging from 2.5 to 3.2 eV. When spin–orbit coupling is considered in these ferromagnetic monolayers, the nature of their half-metal is almost unaffected. Finally, the strong in-plane magnetic anisotropy of MnSY (Y = Br, I) and MnSeY (Y = Cl, I) monolayers originate mainly from halogen and chalcogen atoms, respectively. Our work shows that 2D Janus Mn-based ferromagnetic half-metals may have appealing functionalities in high-performance spintronic applications.