Manipulation of ferromagnetism in intrinsic two-dimensional magnetic and nonmagnetic materials

Summary

2D ferromagnetic materials have been regarded as the promising candidates for the next-generation spintronics in the field of future information science and technology. In the past 5 years, intrinsic 2D ferromagnets have been gradually reported. However, the limited number of intrinsic 2D ferromagnets has motivated introducing and manipulating ferromagnetism in 2D nonmagnetic materials by external stimulations, which greatly expand the family of 2D ferromagnetic materials. Herein, this review first summarizes the recent progress of 2D intrinsic ferromagnets and elaborate the modulation of their magnetic characteristics via external stimulations (e.g., gating, pressure, strain, light, doping, etc.). Subsequently, the introduction and manipulation of ferromagnetism in 2D nonmagnetic materials are carefully illustrated through four sections, i.e., chemical intercalation, heteroatom doping, defect engineering and heterostructure coupling, respectively. Then, a brief summary is given to depict the usage of 2D ferromagnets in device applications and crossover fields. Finally we discuss challenges and prospective avenues of study.