Effect of Ho dopant on the ferromagnetic characteristics of MoS2 nanocrystals

Abstract

Transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have been widely studied for decades in the spintronic device application. However, designing and tuning the magnetic properties of molybdenum disulphide (MoS₂) is still a great challenge. In this work, the as-synthesized MoS₂:Ho³⁺ nanocrystals exhibit robust room-temperature ferromagnetism and the ferromagnetism is controlled by different doping concentrations of Ho³⁺ ions. The maximum saturation magnetization is 0.055 emu g⁻¹. Based on first-principles calculations, the intrinsic ferromagnetic and the changed electronic properties are introduced by Ho³⁺ doping. The as-obtained MoS₂:Ho³⁺ nanocrystals with intrinsic ferromagnetism may be a potential candidate in the spintronics field and this approach may be employed in the magnetic applications of other TMDs.