journal article·2025-11-22Open access

High-throughput exfoliation of multiferroic ternary oxide monolayers with high transition temperature and giant spin splitting

Yongle Zhong, Yuxiang Xiao, Zhengfang Qian, Wen Xiong, Pu Huang

npj Computational Materials· Volume 11· Issue 1

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) non-van der Waals (non-vdW) materials has garnered significant attention in recent years, driven by the remarkable properties inherent in their parent bulk. However, a comprehensive high-throughput exfoliation strategy for non-vdW materials remains unestablished. In this study, we propose a bond density and binding strength criterion to identify exfoliable crystallographic planes in ABO 3 compounds, realizing massive exfoliation of ABO 3 monolayers with exfoliation energies as low as 0.049 \(\text{eV}/{{\rm{\mathring{\rm A} }}}2\) . We screened 35 stable ABO 3 monolayers, which not only harbor diverse multiferroic orders, but also possess intriguing physical properties, such as high Néel/Curie temperature, giant spin splitting (0.606 eV), and wide band gaps (0 − 3.758 eV). The candidates demonstrate tunable band ordering, transition from semiconductor to spin-polarized metal, and switching between antiferromagnetic/ferromagnetic states, with low barrier energy (9.1 meV/atom). Our study builds an approach for the design and discovery of 2D non-vdW monolayers from crystallogrphic planes, offering versatile phase-controlled electronic and spin capabilities and providing new insights into phase manipulation in 2D spintronic devices.
Source: openalex_inverted_index · Quality: baseline

Research context

OpenAlex topics: 2D Materials and Applications · Multiferroics and related materials · Heusler alloys: electronic and magnetic properties

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

References (52)

Show source-provided references
1. Fogh, E. et al. Tuning magnetoelectricity in a mixed-anisotropy antiferromagnet. Nat. Commun. 14, 3408 (2023).10.1038/s41467-023-39128-7 ↗
2. Du, X. et al. Frequency tunable magnetostatic wave filters with zero static power magnetic biasing circuitry. Nat. Commun. 15, 3582 (2024).10.1038/s41467-024-47822-3 ↗
3. Olejník, K. et al. Terahertz electrical writing speed in an antiferromagnetic memory. Sci. Adv. 4, eaar3566 (2018).10.1126/sciadv.aar3566 ↗
4. Avilés-Félix, L. et al. Single-shot all-optical switching of magnetization in Tb/Co multilayer-based electrodes. Sci. Rep. 10, 5211 (2020).10.1038/s41598-020-62104-w ↗
5. Marrows, C. H., Barker, J., Moore, T. A. & Moorsom, T. Neuromorphic computing with spintronics. npj Spintron. 2, 12 (2024).10.1038/s44306-024-00019-2 ↗
6. Kang, M.-G., Lee, S. & Park, B.-G. Field-free spin-orbit torques switching and its applications. npj Spintron. 3, 8 (2025).10.1038/s44306-025-00071-6 ↗
7. Ji, D. et al. Freestanding crystalline oxide perovskites down to the monolayer limit. Nature 570, 87–90 (2019).10.1038/s41586-019-1255-7 ↗
8. Acosta, M. et al. BaTiO3-based piezoelectrics: fundamentals, current status, and perspectives. Appl. Phys. Rev. 4, 041305 (2017).10.1063/1.4990046 ↗
9. Zhou, F., Li, Y., Song, H., Wei, X. & Dai, B. Third harmonic generation in monoclinic 2D KNbO3 with high power endurance. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 42, 042201 (2024).10.1116/5.0205350 ↗
10. Kumari, M., Jindal, K., Munjal, S., Tomar, M. & Jha, P. K. Analog resistive switching behavior in BiCoO3 thin film. Solid-State Electron 212, 108831 (2024).10.1016/j.sse.2023.108831 ↗
11. Sen, D. et al. Multifunctional 2D FETs exploiting incipient ferroelectricity in freestanding SrTiO3 nanomembranes at sub-ambient temperatures. Nat. Commun. 15, 10739 (2024).10.1038/s41467-024-54231-z ↗
12. Liu, X. et al. Enhanced performance of flexible BiFeO3 ferroelectric memory with Mica substrate via SrTiO3 buffer layer. Sci. Rep. 14, 25292 (2024).10.1038/s41598-024-77119-w ↗
13. Li, C. et al. Ultrathin BaTiO3-based ferroelectric tunnel junctions through interface engineering. Nano Lett. 15, 2568–2573 (2015).10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b00138 ↗
14. Liu, H. et al. Nature of ferromagnetic ordered state in LaCoO3 epitaxial nano-thin film on LaAlO3 substrate. J. Alloy. Compd. 594, 158–164 (2014).10.1016/j.jallcom.2014.01.126 ↗
15. Santander-Syro, A. et al. Giant spin splitting of the two-dimensional electron gas at the surface of SrTiO3. Nat. Mater. 13, 1085–1090 (2014).10.1038/nmat4107 ↗
16. Tornos, J. et al. Ferroelectric control of interface spin filtering in multiferroic tunnel junctions. Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 037601 (2019).10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.037601 ↗
17. Zhou, F. et al. Topotactic growth of free-standing two-dimensional perovskite niobates with low symmetry phase. Nano Lett. 21, 4700–4707 (2021).10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c00918 ↗
18. Yasui, S. et al. Crystal structure and electrical properties of {100}-oriented epitaxial BiCoO3–BiFeO3 films grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 47, 7582 (2008).10.1143/JJAP.47.7582 ↗
19. Dai, J.-Q., Xu, J.-W. & Zhu, J.-H. First-principles study on the multiferroic BiFeO3 (0001) polar surfaces. Appl. Surf. Sci. 392, 135–143 (2017).10.1016/j.apsusc.2016.09.044 ↗
20. Friedrich, R., Ghorbani-Asl, M., Curtarolo, S. & Krasheninnikov, A. V. Data-driven quest for two-dimensional non-van der Waals materials. Nano Lett. 22, 989–997 (2022).10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c03841 ↗
21. Mounet, N. et al. Two-dimensional materials from high-throughput computational exfoliation of experimentally known compounds. Nat. Nanotechnol. 13, 246–252 (2018).10.1038/s41565-017-0035-5 ↗
22. Zhang, C., Zhang, S., Cui, P. & Zhang, Z. Tunable multistate ferroelectricity of unit-cell-thick BaTiO3 revived by a ferroelectric SnS monolayer via interfacial sliding. Nano Lett. 24, 8664–8670 (2024).10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c02041 ↗
23. Ma, Z. et al. Multiferroicity and giant in-plane negative Poisson’s ratio in wurtzite monolayers. npj Comput. Mater. 8, 51 (2022).10.1038/s41524-022-00740-8 ↗
24. Hu, Y. et al. Prediction of nonlayered oxide monolayers as flexible high-κ dielectrics with negative Poisson’s ratios. Nat. Commun. 14, 6555 (2023).10.1038/s41467-023-42312-4 ↗
25. Jain, A. et al. CommentAry: The Materials Project: A Materials genome approach to accelerating materials innovation. APL Mater. 1, 011002 (2013).10.1063/1.4812323 ↗
26. Hellenbrandt, M. The inorganic crystal structure database (ICSD)—present and future. Crystallogr. Rev. 10, 17–22 (2004).10.1080/08893110410001664882 ↗
27. Moreau, J.-M., Michel, C., Gerson, R. & James, W. J. Ferroelectric BiFeO3 X-ray and neutron diffraction study. J. Phys. Chem. Solids 32, 1315–1320 (1971).10.1016/S0022-3697(71)80189-0 ↗
28. Puthirath Balan, A. et al. A non-van der Waals two-dimensional material from natural titanium mineral ore ilmenite. Chem. Mater. 30, 5923–5931 (2018).10.1021/acs.chemmater.8b01935 ↗
29. Jung, J. H., Park, C.-H. & Ihm, J. A rigorous method of calculating exfoliation energies from first principles. Nano Lett. 18, 2759–2765 (2018).10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b04201 ↗
30. Yadav, T. P. et al. Chromiteen: a new 2D oxide magnetic material from natural ore. Adv. Mater. Interfaces 5, 1800549 (2018).10.1002/admi.201800549 ↗
31. Puthirath Balan, A. et al. Exfoliation of a non-van der Waals material from iron ore hematite. Nat. Nanotechnol. 13, 602–609 (2018).10.1038/s41565-018-0134-y ↗
32. Kabiraj, A., Kumar, M. & Mahapatra, S. High-throughput discovery of high Curie point two-dimensional ferromagnetic materials. npj Comput. Mater. 6, 35 (2020).10.1038/s41524-020-0300-2 ↗
33. He, X., Helbig, N., Verstraete, M. J. & Bousquet, E. TB2J: a python package for computing magnetic interaction parameters. Comput. Phys. Commun. 264, 107938 (2021).10.1016/j.cpc.2021.107938 ↗
34. Lu, H. et al. Spin-splitting above room-temperature in Janus Mn2ClSeH antiferromagnetic semiconductor with a large out-of-plane piezoelectricity. npj Comput. Mater. 11, 71 (2025).10.1038/s41524-025-01566-w ↗
35. Watson, M. D. et al. Giant exchange splitting in the electronic structure of A-type 2D antiferromagnet CrSBr. npj 2. D. Mater. Appl. 8, 54 (2024).
36. Chen, X. et al. Enumeration and representation theory of spin space groups. Phys. Rev. X 14, 031038 (2024).
37. Kim, M., Im, J., Freeman, A. J., Ihm, J. & Jin, H. Switchable S = 1/2 and J = 1/2 Rashba bands in ferroelectric halide perovskites. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 111, 6900–6904 (2014).10.1073/pnas.1405780111 ↗
38. Verma, A., Raghavan, S., Stemmer, S. & Jena, D. Ferroelectric transition in compressively strained SrTiO3 thin films. Appl. Phys. Lett. 107, 192908 (2015).10.1063/1.4935592 ↗
39. Berge, J., Vorobiev, A. & Gevorgian, S. The effect of growth temperature on the nanostructure and dielectric response of BaTiO3 ferroelectric films. Thin Solid Films 515, 6302–6308 (2007).10.1016/j.tsf.2006.11.139 ↗
40. Herklotz, A., Rata, A., Schultz, L. & Dörr, K. Reversible strain effect on the magnetization of LaCoO3 films. Phys. Rev. B Condens. Matter 79, 092409 (2009).10.1103/PhysRevB.79.092409 ↗
41. Lee, J. H. et al. Impact of strain on sub-3 nm gate-all-around CMOS logic circuit performance using a neural compact modeling approach. IEEE J. Electron Devices Soc. 12, 770–774 (2024).10.1109/JEDS.2024.3459872 ↗
42. Jiang, J., Xu, L., Qiu, C. & Peng, L.-M. Ballistic two-dimensional InSe transistors. Nature 616, 470–475 (2023).10.1038/s41586-023-05819-w ↗
43. Grimme, S., Ehrlich, S. & Goerigk, L. Effect of the damping function in dispersion corrected density functional theory. J. Comput. Chem. 32, 1456–1465 (2011).10.1002/jcc.21759 ↗
44. Xiang, H., Kan, E., Wei, S.-H., Whangbo, M.-H. & Gong, X. Predicting the spin-lattice order of frustrated systems from first principles. Phys. Rev. B Condens. Matter 84, 224429 (2011).10.1103/PhysRevB.84.224429 ↗
45. Mostofi, A. A. et al. wannier90: a tool for obtaining maximally-localised Wannier functions. Comput. Phys. Commun. 178, 685–699 (2008).10.1016/j.cpc.2007.11.016 ↗
46. Evans, R. F. et al. Atomistic spin model simulations of magnetic nanomaterials. J. Phys. Condens. Matter 26, 103202 (2014).10.1088/0953-8984/26/10/103202 ↗
47. Kresse, G. & Furthmüller, J. Efficiency of ab-initio total energy calculations for metals and semiconductors using a plane-wave basis set. Comput. Mater. Sci. 6, 15–50 (1996).10.1016/0927-0256(96)00008-0 ↗
48. Ernzerhof, M. & Scuseria, G. E. Assessment of the Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof exchange-correlation functional. J. Chem. Phys. 110, 5029–5036 (1999).10.1063/1.478401 ↗
49. Bengtsson, L. Dipole correction for surface supercell calculations. Phys. Rev. B 59, 12301 (1999).10.1103/PhysRevB.59.12301 ↗
50. Heyd, J., Scuseria, G. E. & Ernzerhof, M. Hybrid functionals based on a screened Coulomb potential. J. Chem. Phys. 118, 8207–8215 (2003).10.1063/1.1564060 ↗
51. Henkelman, G., Uberuaga, B. P. & Jónsson, H. A climbing image nudged elastic band method for finding saddle points and minimum energy paths. J. Chem. Phys. 113, 9901–9904 (2000).10.1063/1.1329672 ↗
52. Momma, K. & Izumi, F. VESTA: a three-dimensional visualization system for electronic and structural analysis. J. Appl. Crystallogr. 41, 653–658 (2008).10.1107/S0021889808012016 ↗