Covalent 2D Cr2Te3 ferromagnet

To broaden the scope of van der Waals 2D magnets, we report the synthesis and magnetism of covalent 2D magnetic Cr2Te3 with a thickness down to one-unit-cell. The 2D Cr2Te3 crystals exhibit robust ferromagnetism with a Curie temperature of 180 K, a large perpendicular anisotropy of 7 x 10(5) J m(-3), and a high coercivity of similar to 4.6 kG at 20 K. First principles calculations further show a transition from canted to collinear ferromagnetism, a transition from perpendicular to in-plane anisotropy, and emergent half-metallic behavior in atomically-thin Cr2Te3, suggesting its potential application for injecting carriers with high spin polarization into spintronic devices. IMPACT STATEMENT A T-C of 180 K, a perpendicular anisotropy of 7 x 10(5) J m(-3), and a high coercivity of similar to 4.6 kG were achieved in covalent Cr2Te3 2D ferromagnets.