Co- and Nd-codoping-induced high magnetization in layered MoS2 crystals

Magnetic 2D-layered materials are promising for the applications of spintronic devices and compact magnetic devices. There are only a few reported intrinsic 2D-based magnetic materials. Therefore, introducing magnetic element into 2D-layered materials is an effective strategy to synthesize 2D-layered magnetic materials. Recently, ferromagnetism has been realized by doping single transition-metal or rare-earth element, whereas, there is no report by codoping of both transition-metal and rare-earth elements. Herein, Co and Nd are codoped into MoS₂-layered crystals by ion implantation. An extremely high magnetization of 6916.3 emu cm⁻³ at 10 K and 80.3 emu cm⁻³ at 300 K is achieved. The high magnetization is attributed to the contribution from both transition-metal and rare-earth elements as well as defects, such as vacancy of cation ions, anions, or interstitials. Hence, herein, a useful strategy may be opened to develop high-performance magnetic materials based on 2D-layered materials.