A density functional theory study of electronic and magnetic properties of rare earth doped monolayered molybdenum disulphide

The effects of Rare Earth (RE) atoms Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, and Dy doping on structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of single layer MoS2 were investigated using first principles calculations. The analysis of electronic properties pointed out the appearance of host-impurity hybrid states on the edges of principal bands of the material, which appeared to cause narrowing of its bandgap. The values of total magnetic moment were calculated as 3.3 mu(B), 8.1 mu(B), 8.5 mu(B), 6.8 mu(B), and 6.4 mu(B) for Sm-, Eu-, Gd-, Tb-, and Dy-doped MoS2, respectively. The underestimation of magnetic moment in the case of Sm doping is found which is assigned to shielding of 4f moments and quenching of angular momentum caused by Sm 4f-S 3p hybridization. On the other hand, the observed overestimation of magnetic moments for Eu and Gd cases is likely to be due to increase in angular momentum due to indirect exchange interaction of highly localized 4f states via 5d or 6s conduction electrons. The findings of this work point out the possibilities of tuning the band gap and magnetic properties of monolayer MoS2 upon RE doping for realization of p-type ferromagnetic semiconductors. Published by AIP Publishing.