Single-layer antiferromagnetic semiconductor CoS2 with the pentagonal structure

Abstract

Structure-property relationships have always been guiding principles in discovering new materials. Here we explore the relationships to discover novel two-dimensional (2D) materials with the goal of identifying 2D magnetic semiconductors for spintronics applications. In particular, we report a density functional theory + $U$ study of single-layer antiferromagnetic (AFM) semiconductor CoS$_2$ with the pentagonal structure forming the so-called Cairo Tessellation. We find that this single-layer magnet exhibits an indirect bandgap of 1.06 eV with light electron and hole effective masses of 0.03 and 0.10 $m_0$, respectively, which may lead to high carrier mobilities. The hybrid density functional theory calculations correct the bandgap to 2.24 eV. We also compute the magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy (MAE), showing that the easy axis of the AFM ordering is out of plane with a sizable MAE of 153 $\mu$eV per Co ion. We further calculate the magnon frequencies at different spin-spiral vectors, based on which we estimate the N$\acute{e}$el temperatures to be 20.4 and 13.3 K using the mean field and random phase approximations, respectively. We then apply biaxial strains to tune the bandgap of single-layer pentagonal CoS$_2$. We find that the energy difference between the ferromagnetic and AFM structures strongly depends on the biaxial strain, but the ground state remains the AFM ordering. Although the low critical temperature prohibits the magnetic applications of single-layer pentagonal CoS$_2$ at room temperature, the excellent electrical properties may find this novel single-layer semiconductor applications in optoelectronic nanodevices.