Room Temperature Ferroelectricity, Ferromagnetism, and Anomalous Hall Effect in Half-metallic Monolayer CrTe

Abstract

Two-dimensional materials hosting ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism are crucial for low-power and high-speed information processing technologies. However, intrinsic 2D multiferroics in the monolayer limit are rare. Here, we demonstrate that monolayer CrTe, obtained by cleaving the [002] surface, is dynamically stable multiferroic at temperatures beyond room temperature. We show that it orders ferromagnetically with significant in-plane magnetocrystalline anisotropy, and it is a half-metal featuring a large half-metal gap. Remarkably, the broken inversion symmetry and buckled geometry of monolayer CrTe make it a ferroelectric with a large spontaneous out-of-plane polarization and significant magnetoelectric coupling. In addition, we demonstrate polarization or electric field-induced tunability of the anomalous Hall effect, accompanied by substantial bandstructure modulation. Our findings establish monolayer CrTe as a room-temperature multiferroic with great potential for applications in spintronics and ferroelectric devices.