Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.139, No.33, 11506-11512, 2017
Chemically Functionalized Phosphorene: Two-Dimensional Multiferroics with Vertical Polarization and Mobile Magnetism
In future nanocircuits based on two-dimensional (2D) materials, the ideal nonvolatile memories (NVMs) would be based an 2D multiferroic materials that can combine both efficient ferroelectric writing and ferromagnetic reading, which remain hitherto unreported Here we show first-principles evidence that a: halogen-intercalated phosphorene bilayer can be multiferroic with most long-sought advantages: its "mobile" magnetism can be controlled by ferroelectric switching upon application of an external electric field, exhibiting either an "on" state with spin-selective and highly p-doped channels, or an "off' state, insulating against both spin and electron transport, which renders efficient,electrical writing arid magnetic reading. Vertical polarization can be maintained against a depolarizing field, rendering high-density data storage possible. Moreover, all those functions in the halogenated, regions can be directly integrated into: a 2D phosphorene wafer; similar to nip channels formed by,dOping in a silicon wafer Such formation-of multiferroics with vertical polarization robust against a depolarizing field can he attributed to the unique properties of covalently bonded ferroelectrics, distinct from ionic-bonded ferroelectrics, which may. e extended to other van der Waals bilayers for the design of 1NVM in future 2D wafers. Every intercalated adatom can be used to store one bit of data: "0" when bibding toi the:upper layer and "1" when binding to the down layer, giving rise to a possible approach of realizing:single atom memory for high-density data storage.