Creating half-metallicity in two-dimensional magnetoelectric semiconductors

Magnetic two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors [1, 2] opened up unprecedented opportunities for nanoscale spintronic devices. For the spintronics field, two long-sought goals are the device downscaling and the high energy efficiency [3]. For the efficient spintronics, the realization of high spin polarization via minimal amount of electrical input is a critical prerequisite. In this talk, I will progressively introduce an appealing approach [4, 5] to creating half-metallicity in 2D magnetoelectric semiconductors. First [4], the electric field is applied across the bilayer A-type antiferromagnetic 2D materials to create half-metallicity. Then [5], a multiferroic superlattice consisting of alternative layers of ferroelectrics and A-type antiferromagnets is constructed for the ferroelectric control of half-metallicity. These material systems are experimentally relevant, and the ferroelectric spintronics introduced here will provide valuable contributions to the developments of miniaturized high-efficiency spintronic devices.

[1] C. Gong et al., Nature 546, 265–269 (2017).
[2] C. Gong, et al. Science 363, eaav4450 (2019).
[3] C. Gong et al., Nat. Commun. 10, 2657 (2019).
[4] S.-J. Gong, et al., PNAS 115, 8511–8516 (2018).
[5] E.-W. Du, et al., Nano Lett. 20, 7230–7236 (2020).