Effects of the Hubbard U correction on the electronic and magnetic properties of the tetragonal V(2)P(2) sheet

A recent theoretical work predicted the orthorhombic phase of the V(2)P(2) sheet with the half-metallic electronic property using a linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO) basis set based on density functional theory (DFT). However, in the plane-wave DFT method, the tetragonal (t) V(2)P(2) phase is the ground state structure. The total energy of the optimized tetragonal V(2)P(2) is 0.91 eV per cell lower than that of the orthorhombic phase. Herein, we investigated the effects of Hubbard U correction onthe electronic, magnetic, and adsorption properties of the t-V(2)P(2) sheet. The t-V(2)P(2) sheet is found to be dynamically and mechanically stable. The t-V(2)P(2) sheet prefers an antiferromagnetic ground state with an indirect narrowed bandgap of 0.23 eV. The estimated electron mobility in the t-V(2)P(2) sheet at room temperature is approximately 24 times that of a hole. The t-V(2)P(2) sheet exhibits a sizable magnetic anisotropy (MAE) of 69.63 μeV per V atom with in-plane magnetization. Mean-field approximation based on the 2D classical Heisenberg model predicts a high Néel temperature (T(N)) of the t-V(2)P(2) sheet up to 1263 K. The Li atom adsorption on the t-V(2)P(2) sheet shows a transition from semiconductor to metal. Also the Li–V(2)P(2) system has a residual integer magnetic moment of 1 μ(B). Due to strong steric coulomb repulsion, the minimum diffusion energy barrier (E(a)) for the Li-ion on the t-V(2)P(2) surface is high enough to make the Li atom immobile. Our findings demonstrate the potential of the t-V(2)P(2) sheet for antiferromagnetic spintronics and sensing applications.