Rationally Designed High-Performance Spin Filter Based on Two-Dimensional Half-Metal Cr2NO2

Abstract

Half-metals are promising candidates for designing efficient spin filters owing to their unique electronic structures, which show the electrical conductivity for spin-up states and a band gap for spin-down states. Herein, designing excellent ultrathin spin filters by using half-metal two-dimensional Cr2NO2, which has a Curie temperature of 566 K, is demonstrated based on first-principles calculations. Our results reveal that the required energy to overturn the spin arrangement of bilayer Cr2NO2, from parallel to anti-parallel states, is quite low. The bilayer Cr2NO2 maintains its half-metal behavior while sandwiched within the Au/Cr2NO2/Au heterojunction. Owing to the half-metal characteristic, the total current of Au/Cr2NO2/Au can reach a value of 15 nA per primitive cell under a low voltage of 10 mV in parallel states. The magnetoresistance ratio is 9,333% at low voltage. The robust half-metal behavior, high Curie temperature, and two-dimensional structure make Cr2NO2 an ideal ultrathin spin-filtering material with high switching ratio and low energy consumption.