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A two-dimensional ferromagnetic semiconductor Cr2Ge2Te6 (CGT) was recently found to possess extraordinary characteristics and has great potential in the emerging field of spintronics. Using first-principles calculations, we examined the stabilities of this layered system by studying the cleavage energies and phonon dispersion. The ferromagnetic ground state has an in-plane spin polarization and bandgaps of about 0.26 eV by Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof-van der Waals and 0.91 eV by the Heyd-Scuseria-Ernzerhof functional. Furthermore, we employed strain engineering and an external electric field to control the electronic and magnetic properties. In addition, we studied the magnetic anisotropy energy as well as its modulation under the electric field. We predict the CGT monolayer to be the easy plane ferromagnet, and the perpendicular electric field could affect the ferromagnetic stability along different directions. Our obtained results provide guidance for the potential applications of monolayer CGT for magnetic nanodevices, spintronic, and straintronic applications.

The electronic structure of two-dimensional (2D) materials are inherently prone to environmental perturbations, which may pose significant challenges to their applications in electronic or optoelectronic devices. A 2D material couples with its environment through two mechanisms: local chemical coupling and nonlocal dielectric screening effects. The local chemical coupling is often difficult to predict or control experimentally. Nonlocal dielectric screening, on the other hand, can be tuned by choosing the substrates or layer thickness in a controllable manner. Therefore, a compelling 2D electronic material should offer band edge states that are robust against local chemical coupling effects. Here it is demonstrated that the recently synthesized MoSi2N4 is an ideal 2D semiconductor with robust band edge states protected from capricious environmental chemical coupling effects. Detailed many-body perturbation theory calculations are carried out to illustrate how the band edge states of MoSi2N4 are shielded from the direct chemical coupling effects, but its quasiparticle and excitonic properties can be modulated through the nonlocal dielectric screening effects. This unique property, together with the moderate band gap and the thermodynamic and mechanical stability of this material, paves the way for a range of applications of MoSi2N4 in areas including energy, 2D electronics, and optoelectronics.

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