Emergent Spin Fluctuation and Structural Metastability in Self-Intercalated Cr1+xTe2 Compounds

Clayton Conner; Ali Sarikhani; Theo Volz; Mathew Pollard; Mitchel Vaninger; Xiaoqing He; Steven Kelley; Jacob Cook; Avinash Sah; John Clark; Hunter Lucker; Cheng Zhang; Paul Miceli; Yew San Hor; Xiaoqian Zhang; Guang Bian

doi:10.1002/aelm.202500599

Emergent Spin Fluctuation and Structural Metastability in Self-Intercalated Cr_1+xTe₂ Compounds

Clayton Conner
, Ali Sarikhani
, Theo Volz
, Mathew Pollard
, Mitchel Vaninger
, Xiaoqing He
, Steven Kelley
, Jacob Cook
, Avinash Sah
, John Clark
, Hunter Lucker
, Cheng Zhang
, Paul Miceli
, Yew San Hor
, Xiaoqian Zhang
, Guang Bian

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Intercalated van der Waals (vdW) magnetic materials host unique magnetic properties due to the interplay of competing interlayer and intralayer exchange couplings, which depend on the intercalant concentration within the van der Waals gaps. Magnetic vdW compound chromium telluride, (Formula presented.), has demonstrated rich magnetic phases at various Cr concentrations, such as the coexistence of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases in (Formula presented.) (equivalently, (Formula presented.)). The compound is created by intercalating 0.25 Cr atom per unit cell within the van der Waals gaps of (Formula presented.). In this work, we report a notably increased Curie Temperature and an emergent in-plane spin fluctuation by slightly reducing the concentration of Cr intercalants in (Formula presented.). Moreover, the intercalated Cr atoms form a metastable 2 (Formula presented.) 2 supercell structure that can be manipulated by electron beam irradiation. This work offers a promising approach to tuning magnetic and structural properties by adjusting the concentration of intercalated magnetic atoms.

Original language	English
Journal	Advanced Electronic Materials
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.202500599
State	Accepted/In press - 2026
Externally published	Yes

Funding

The work at the University of Missouri, including sample preparation and characterization, was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Science and Engineering, under Grant No. DE‐SC0024294. X.Z. was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 12404127), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20241262), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 2242025K30023), the Start‐up Research Fund of Southeast University (RF1028624083), and the Open Research Fund of Key Laboratory of Quantum Materials and Devices (Southeast University), Ministry of Education. The authors thank the Center for Fundamental and Interdisciplinary Sciences of Southeast University for the support in MPMS measurements.

Keywords

2D magnets
magnetoresistance
self-intercalation
spintronics
structural metastability

Access to Document

10.1002/aelm.202500599

Cite this

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title = "Emergent Spin Fluctuation and Structural Metastability in Self-Intercalated Cr1+xTe2 Compounds",

abstract = "Intercalated van der Waals (vdW) magnetic materials host unique magnetic properties due to the interplay of competing interlayer and intralayer exchange couplings, which depend on the intercalant concentration within the van der Waals gaps. Magnetic vdW compound chromium telluride, (Formula presented.), has demonstrated rich magnetic phases at various Cr concentrations, such as the coexistence of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases in (Formula presented.) (equivalently, (Formula presented.)). The compound is created by intercalating 0.25 Cr atom per unit cell within the van der Waals gaps of (Formula presented.). In this work, we report a notably increased Curie Temperature and an emergent in-plane spin fluctuation by slightly reducing the concentration of Cr intercalants in (Formula presented.). Moreover, the intercalated Cr atoms form a metastable 2 (Formula presented.) 2 supercell structure that can be manipulated by electron beam irradiation. This work offers a promising approach to tuning magnetic and structural properties by adjusting the concentration of intercalated magnetic atoms.",

keywords = "2D magnets, magnetoresistance, self-intercalation, spintronics, structural metastability",

author = "Clayton Conner and Ali Sarikhani and Theo Volz and Mathew Pollard and Mitchel Vaninger and Xiaoqing He and Steven Kelley and Jacob Cook and Avinash Sah and John Clark and Hunter Lucker and Cheng Zhang and Paul Miceli and Hor, \{Yew San\} and Xiaoqian Zhang and Guang Bian",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2026 The Author(s). Advanced Electronic Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.",

year = "2026",

doi = "10.1002/aelm.202500599",

language = "English",

journal = "Advanced Electronic Materials",

issn = "2199-160X",

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T1 - Emergent Spin Fluctuation and Structural Metastability in Self-Intercalated Cr1+xTe2 Compounds

AU - Conner, Clayton

AU - Sarikhani, Ali

AU - Volz, Theo

AU - Pollard, Mathew

AU - Vaninger, Mitchel

AU - He, Xiaoqing

AU - Kelley, Steven

AU - Cook, Jacob

AU - Sah, Avinash

AU - Clark, John

AU - Lucker, Hunter

AU - Zhang, Cheng

AU - Miceli, Paul

AU - Hor, Yew San

AU - Zhang, Xiaoqian

AU - Bian, Guang

PY - 2026

Y1 - 2026

N2 - Intercalated van der Waals (vdW) magnetic materials host unique magnetic properties due to the interplay of competing interlayer and intralayer exchange couplings, which depend on the intercalant concentration within the van der Waals gaps. Magnetic vdW compound chromium telluride, (Formula presented.), has demonstrated rich magnetic phases at various Cr concentrations, such as the coexistence of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases in (Formula presented.) (equivalently, (Formula presented.)). The compound is created by intercalating 0.25 Cr atom per unit cell within the van der Waals gaps of (Formula presented.). In this work, we report a notably increased Curie Temperature and an emergent in-plane spin fluctuation by slightly reducing the concentration of Cr intercalants in (Formula presented.). Moreover, the intercalated Cr atoms form a metastable 2 (Formula presented.) 2 supercell structure that can be manipulated by electron beam irradiation. This work offers a promising approach to tuning magnetic and structural properties by adjusting the concentration of intercalated magnetic atoms.

AB - Intercalated van der Waals (vdW) magnetic materials host unique magnetic properties due to the interplay of competing interlayer and intralayer exchange couplings, which depend on the intercalant concentration within the van der Waals gaps. Magnetic vdW compound chromium telluride, (Formula presented.), has demonstrated rich magnetic phases at various Cr concentrations, such as the coexistence of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases in (Formula presented.) (equivalently, (Formula presented.)). The compound is created by intercalating 0.25 Cr atom per unit cell within the van der Waals gaps of (Formula presented.). In this work, we report a notably increased Curie Temperature and an emergent in-plane spin fluctuation by slightly reducing the concentration of Cr intercalants in (Formula presented.). Moreover, the intercalated Cr atoms form a metastable 2 (Formula presented.) 2 supercell structure that can be manipulated by electron beam irradiation. This work offers a promising approach to tuning magnetic and structural properties by adjusting the concentration of intercalated magnetic atoms.

KW - 2D magnets

KW - magnetoresistance

KW - self-intercalation

KW - spintronics

KW - structural metastability

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