Electric Field-tunable Ferromagnetism in a van der Waals Semiconductor Up to Room Temperature

Our paper—“Electric field‑tunable ferromagnetism in a van der Waals semiconductor up to room temperature”—is now published in Nature Communications! This project took a long and winding path, and after more than five years and plenty of rethinking.

The 2D community is chasing perfection—cleaner crystals, sharper alignment, fewer defects. This work leans into the opposite idea: disorder.

In 2D, disorder can be surprisingly forgiving, e.g., carrier‑mediated (RKKY‑type) interactions are more long‑ranged and decay slowly, so doping can be minimized and doesn’t necessarily ruin the host. In black phosphorus, it allows cobalt to sit between the layers without destroying its semiconducting properties. Those moments interact, the gate tunes the interaction, and the result is induced ferromagnetism that is electrically tunable up to room temperature. Sometimes the trick isn’t making materials more perfect—it’s knowing how to use their imperfections.

For more information, see here.