Strain-Mediated Lattice Reconstruction Enhances Ferromagnetism in Cr <sub>2</sub> Ge <sub>2</sub> Te <sub>6</sub> /WTe <sub>2</sub> van der Waals Heterobilayers
thicknesses ranging from monolayer to bulk reveal a robust anomalous Hall effect together with a more than two fold increase of the Curie temperature and substantially enhanced coercive fields. Interface microscopy confirms chemically abrupt vdW interfaces with no detectable interdiffusion, while control experiments rule out processing- or stray-field-induced artifacts. Our experiments and theoretical calculations demonstrate that interfacial charge transfer renders CGT conductive and that proximity-induced lattice distortions in CGT enhance exchange and magnetocrystalline anisotropy. These results establish strain-mediated lattice reconstruction as a strategy for engineering high-temperature magnetic order in 2D heterostructures and clarify that modifications within the magnetic layer itself can govern proximity effects in vdW stacks.
Authors
- Franz Herling (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4304-8173)
- Motomi Aoki (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-3699-6430)
- Sergio O. Valenzuela (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4632-8891)
- Bernat Mundet (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0608-2070)
- Dorye L. Esteras
- Goki Eda (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1575-8020)
- Ivan Verzhbitskiy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5945-8276)
- Vera Marinova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3499-0212)
- Kai Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6999-1904)
- K Watanabe
- T Taniguchi
- Stephan Roche
- José H. García
- Juan. F. Sierra
- Charlotte Evason
- Mireia Torres-Sala
- Kapil Gupta
- J. Sebastián Reparaz
- Dimitre Dimitrov
- Marcos Rosado
Institutions
- Agency for Science, Technology and Research (SG)
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ES)
- Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ES)
- National University of Singapore (SG)
- National Institute for Materials Science (JP)
- Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BG)
- Georgi Nadjakov Institute of Solid State Physics (BG)
- Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ES)
- Division of Chemistry (US)
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter (CN)
- Centre of Excellence for Advanced Materials (CN)
- Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ES)
- Institute of Information and Communication Technologies (BG)
- Optica (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nano Letters
- Published
- 2026-04-14
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.6c00201
- Primary Topic
- 2D Materials and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
- Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia
- European Commission
- Ministry of Education - Singapore
- Generalitat de Catalunya
- Bulgarian National Science Fund
- Barcelona Supercomputing Center
- HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme
- European Regional Development Fund
- Agencia Estatal de Investigación
- European Social Fund
- HORIZON EUROPE European Research Council
- NextGenerationEU