Electric field control of molecular magnetic state by two-dimensional ferroelectric heterostructure engineering Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Two-dimensional multiferroics have attracted tremendous attention due to their intriguing physics and promising applications. However, it has been a major challenge to discover and design two-dimensional multiferroic materials with large electric polarization and strong magnetoelectric coupling. In this work, we propose a strategy to design a two-dimensional van der Waals heterostructure with strong magnetoelectric coupling by stacking a transition metal phthalocyanine (TMPc) molecule with ferroelectric monolayer In2Se3. By first-principles electronic structure calculations, we predict that the magnetic states of the TMPc molecule can be controlled by electrically switching the polarization direction of In2Se3 using an external electric field. This strong magnetoelectric coupling effect originates from the interfacial charge transfer and orbital splitting, resulting in the different magnetic states of TMPc/In2Se3 heterostructures in two opposite ferroelectric phases. Based on the TMPc/In2Se3 heterostructure, a high-density magnetic memory device is proposed for pure electric writing and magnetic reading. Our predictions may open avenues for finding and designing multiferroic heterostructures by using two-dimensional ferroelectric materials and zero-dimensional magnetic molecules with a strong proximity effect.

published proceedings

  • APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS

author list (cited authors)

  • Zhu, Z., Zhang, B., Chen, X., Qian, X., & Qi, J.

citation count

  • 12

complete list of authors

  • Zhu, Ziye||Zhang, Baiyu||Chen, Xiaofang||Qian, Xiaofeng||Qi, Jingshan

publication date

  • August 2020