Crystallographic and magnetic properties of van der Waals layered FePS₃ crystal*

Abstract

The crystallographic and magnetic properties are presented for van der Waals antiferromagnetic FePS 3 . High-quality single crystals of millimeter size have been successfully synthesized through the chemical vapor transport method. The layered structure and cleavability of the compound are apparent, which are beneficial for a potential exploration of the interesting low dimensional magnetism, as well as for incorporation of FePS 3 into van der Waals heterostructures. For the sake of completeness, we have measured both direct current (dc) and alternating current (ac) magnetic susceptibility. The paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic transition occurs at approximately <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>T</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">N</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>∼</mml:mo> <mml:mn>115</mml:mn> <mml:mspace width="0.25em"/> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">K</mml:mi> </mml:math> . The effective moment is larger than the spin-only effective moment, suggesting that an orbital contribution to the total angular momentum of the Fe 2+ could be present. The ac susceptibility is independent of frequency, which means that the spin freezing effect is excluded. Strong anisotropy of out-of-plane and in-plane susceptibility has been shown, demonstrating the Ising-type magnetic order in FePS 3 system.