Magnetism in transition-metal-doped germanene: A first-principles study

Previous works have shown that transition-metal doping was usually used to induce magnetism in host. Germanene is the graphene-like germanium nanosheet, which has been synthesized very recently (Davila et al., 2014). Here we systematically investigate the geometric, electronic and magnetic properties of 3d series transition-metal (Sc-Ni) substitutional doped germanene. We found that the bonding strength of the transition-metal impurities to germanene is rather strong. Magnetism is observed for V, Cr, Mn, Fe and Co doping. Detailed analysis shows that the magnetic moment comes from the localized d orbitals of transition-metal atom. In particular, Mn-substituted system exhibits a largest magnetic moment similar to 3.5 mu(B) even at a very low impurity concentration. We obtain Curie temperature in excess of room temperature for Mn-substituted system in the impurity concentration of 3.125%, indicating the potential for magnetic storage applications. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.