Two-dimensional magnetic materials for spintronic devices

Spintronics is a promising technology to develop high-speed, high-density, low-power, and nonvolatile memory and logic devices, and thus has attracted tremendous attention. Magnetic materials are the basis of spintronics through controlling and manipulating the spin configurations. Benefiting from their long-range magnetic order in monolayer thickness and weak interlayer van der Waals forces, two-dimensional (2D) magnetic materials offer an ideal platform for the study of magnetism and other novel physical effects in the 2D limit, and open up a new way for the development of novel spintronic devices. The research on 2D magnetic materials and their applications in spintronics has grown rapidly in recent years. In this review, we focus on several representative 2D magnetic materials including CrX3 (X = Cl, Br, I), transition metal phosphorous trichalcogenides MPX3 (M = Mn, Fe, Ni; X = S, Se), Cr2Ge2Te6, Fe3GeTe2, Fe3GaTe2, CrSBr and magnetic Janus monolayers, and discuss their basic physical properties and modulation method, especially the electrical control of magnetism. Then, we introduce the recent progress on spintronic devices based on 2D magnetic materials, e.g., spin valve, spin-filter magnetic tunnel junctions, spin-orbit torque (SOT) and magnonics. Finally, we discuss challenges and outlook on 2D magnetic materials and related spintronic devices. It is of great significance to understand the origin and mechanism of magnetism of 2D magnetic materials and explore effective modulation methods to tune the magnetic properties of 2D magnetic materials, thereby designing new-concept multifunctional devices and implementing the 2D magnetic materials-based spintronic devices into practical applications.