Decoupled Strain Response of Ferroic Properties in Multiferroic VOCl2 Monolayer

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) magnetoelectric multiferroics are promising multifunctional materials for miniaturized logic and memory devices. Herein, we explore the effectiveness of strain-engineering for tuning the properties of a recently predicted 2D antiferromagnetic-ferroelectric, VOCl2 monolayer. Interestingly, we find that magnetic-ordering and electric polarization can be tuned independently using uniaxial tensile strain along different in-plane lattice vectors. A 4% tensile strain along lattice vector b induces a transition from an antiferromagnetic (AFM) ground state with an out-of-plane magnetization to a ferromagnetic (FM) ground state with in-plane magnetization. On the other hand, tensile strain along lattice vector a enhances spontaneous electric polarization, without affecting the magnetic ordering. The monolayers remain dynamically stable under tensile strain, which further helps to raise the Curie temperature of ferromagnetism, as well as ferroelectricity. Such a strain-tunable multiferroic material holds great promises for future generation nanoelectronic devices.

References in corpus (5)

• Quantum ESPRESSO: a modular and open-source software project for quantum simulations of materials
• A Higher-Accuracy van der Waals Density Functional
• Type-II multiferroic Hf${}_2$VC${}_2$F${}_2$ MXene monolayer with high transition temperature
• Two-Dimensional Hyperferroelectric Metals: a Different Route to Ferromagnetic-Ferroelectric Multiferroics
• Two-dimensional ferromagnetic-ferroelectric multiferroics in violation of the d0 rule

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Prediction of Magnetoelectric Multiferroic Janus Monolayers VOXY(X/Y = F, Cl, Br, or I, and X$\ne$Y) with in-plane ferroelectricity and out-of-plane piezoelectricity
• Strain Engineering of Magnetoresistance and Magnetic Anisotropy in CrSBr
• Room Temperature Ferroelectricity and Electrically Tunable Berry Curvature Dipole in III-V Monolayers