Theoretical investigation on the ferromagnetic two-dimensional scandium monochloride sheet that has a high Curie temperature and could be exfoliated from a known material

Abstract

A two-dimensional scandium monochloride sheet was investigated by using density functional theory. It could be exfoliated from a known bulk material with a cleavage energy slightly lower than that of graphene. The sheet has a ferromagnetic ground state with a Curie temperature of 100 K. Moreover, the sheet becomes a half-metal under hole doping. The Curie temperature increases to 250 K with the doping amount of 0.4 per primitive cell, which is close to the ice point. The two-dimensional scandium monochloride sheet should be a good candidate for two-dimensional spintronics.