Insight into tunable electronic and magnetic properties in 2D ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic van der Waals heterostructure

Two dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures have recently emerged as attractive candidates in spintronic devices. Here, a field-effect spin filter based on the 2D antiferromagnetic (AFM)/ferromagnetic (FM) vdW heterostructure, MnPS3/MnCl3, is proposed. The ground state of the MnPS3/MnCl3 heterostructure is predicted to be a type-I AFM semiconductor with AFM Néel ordering in MnPS3 and MnCl3 monolayers. Interestingly, an AFM–FM transition is found for the MnPS3/MnCl3 heterostructure when reducing the interlayer distance to the range of d < 2.0 Å. Moreover, the MnPS3/MnCl3 heterostructure undergoes semiconductor, metal, and half-metal transitions with the interlayer distance decreasing. Moreover, a semiconductor–half-metal transition can also be observed for MnPS3/MnCl3 by applying an external electric field. Our study offers a potential way to design spintronic devices by 2D layered magnetic vdW heterostructure.