Giant Tunneling Magnetoresistance in Mn‐ and V‐Intercalated Graphene/ <i>h</i> ‐BN Based van der Waals Magnetic Tunnel Junctions

Abstract Atomic intercalation offers a powerful route for engineering 2D materials by precisely tuning interlayer electronic coupling and spin configurations. Here, a strategy is proposed for the construction of fully 2D magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) based on transition metal‐intercalated graphene electrodes with h ‐BN barrier layer. First‐principles calculations reveal that intercalation not only stabilizes uniform atomic dispersion via steric hindrance but also induces spin polarization in graphene, which in turn stabilizes the ferromagnetic ground state of the intercalated atoms. Manganese‐ and vanadium‐intercalated systems (Mn‐Gr and V‐Gr) exhibit exceptional spintronic performance, with tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) showing a pronounced odd‐even oscillation as a function of barrier thickness. A giant TMR of 4.35 × 10 8 % is achieved in the Mn‐Gr system with a monolayer barrier h ‐BN ( n = 1), while V‐Gr reaches a maximum TMR of 1.86 × 10 5 % for a trilayer barrier ( n = 3). Moreover, biaxial strain further enhances the TMR to 10 9 % and 10 7 % in Mn‐Gr and V‐Gr systems, respectively. The devices also exhibit perfect spin filtering and pronounced negative differential resistance, offering new opportunities for high‐performance spintronic and memory applications based on 2D van der Waals heterostructures. Additional GGA+ U calculations ( U = 4 eV, J = 1 eV for Mn and V) confirm that strong on‐site Coulomb interactions further increase the equilibrium TMR values (up to 8.61 × 10 8 % and 4.46 × 10 5 % for Mn‐ and V‐intercalated MTJs, respectively) without altering the main n ‐dependent trends or the qualitative even‐odd transport characteristics, thereby validating the robustness of the key findings.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Functional Materials
Published
2025-10-02
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202511719
Primary Topic
Graphene research and applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Giant Tunneling Magnetoresistance in Mn‐ and V‐Intercalated Graphene/ h ‐BN Based van der Waals Magnetic Tunnel Junctions

Jianhua Xiao, Xujin Zhang, Zhi Wu Yan, Xiaohong Xu et al.
Advanced Functional Materials
Graphene research and applications
article

Giant Tunneling Magnetoresistance in Mn‐ and V‐Intercalated Graphene/ h ‐BN Based van der Waals Magnetic Tunnel Junctions

Jianhua Xiao, Xujin Zhang, Zhi Wu Yan, Xiaohong Xu, Fang Cheng
article en

Abstract

Abstract Atomic intercalation offers a powerful route for engineering 2D materials by precisely tuning interlayer electronic coupling and spin configurations. Here, a strategy is proposed for the construction of fully 2D magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) based on transition metal‐intercalated graphene electrodes with h ‐BN barrier layer. First‐principles calculations reveal that intercalation not only stabilizes uniform atomic dispersion via steric hindrance but also induces spin polarization in graphene, which in turn stabilizes the ferromagnetic ground state of the intercalated atoms. Manganese‐ and vanadium‐intercalated systems (Mn‐Gr and V‐Gr) exhibit exceptional spintronic performance, with tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) showing a pronounced odd‐even oscillation as a function of barrier thickness. A giant TMR of 4.35 × 10 8 % is achieved in the Mn‐Gr system with a monolayer barrier h ‐BN ( n = 1), while V‐Gr reaches a maximum TMR of 1.86 × 10 5 % for a trilayer barrier ( n = 3). Moreover, biaxial strain further enhances the TMR to 10 9 % and 10 7 % in Mn‐Gr and V‐Gr systems, respectively. The devices also exhibit perfect spin filtering and pronounced negative differential resistance, offering new opportunities for high‐performance spintronic and memory applications based on 2D van der Waals heterostructures. Additional GGA+ U calculations ( U = 4 eV, J = 1 eV for Mn and V) confirm that strong on‐site Coulomb interactions further increase the equilibrium TMR values (up to 8.61 × 10 8 % and 4.46 × 10 5 % for Mn‐ and V‐intercalated MTJs, respectively) without altering the main n ‐dependent trends or the qualitative even‐odd transport characteristics, thereby validating the robustness of the key findings.

Advanced Functional MaterialsVol. 36(15)
Shanxi University (CN), Ministry of Education (RW), Shanxi Normal University (CN)
Openalex Percentile: Top 79%
Graphene research and applications
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