Interlayer coupling controlled electronic and magnetic properties of two-dimensional VOCl(2)/PtTe(2) van der Waals heterostructure

The coupling of hetero monolayers into van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures has become an effective way to obtain tunable physical and chemical properties of two dimensional (2D) materials. In this work, based on first principles calculations, we systematically explore the electronic and magnetic properties of a 2D VOCl(2)/PtTe(2) heterostructure. Our results indicate that the ground state of the VOCl(2)/PtTe(2) heterostructure is a ferromagnetic (FM) metal with large magnetic anisotropy energy, among which, the VOCl(2) “sublayer” shows FM half metallic properties while the PtTe(2) “sublayer” shows nonmagnetic metallic properties. The Curie temperature (T(C)) of VOCl(2)/PtTe(2) is 111 K. Moreover, the FM–antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase transition can be obtained under biaxial strain. Our work provides an effective way to improve the performance of 2D monolayers in nano-electronic devices.