Magnetic Properties of Two-Dimensional Van der Waals Materials

Two-dimensional van der Waals materials combine atomically thin layers held together by weak interlayer forces with intrinsic magnetic order, offering an ideal platform to explore magnetism in the ultimate thin-film limit. Reduced dimensionality intensifies thermal fluctuations, making magnetic anisotropy and spin–orbit coupling essential for stabilising long-range order. In these systems, exchange interactions range from direct d–d coupling to superexchange via ligand atoms, giving rise to both ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic ground states. The adjustable interlayer spacing and twist angle between sheets enable tailored spin arrangements and emergent phenomena such as non-collinear magnetism, spin spirals and topologically protected magnon edge modes. Key magnetic characteristics include coercivity, remanence and Curie or Néel temperatures, which can be modulated by electric fields, chemical functionalisation, strain or carrier doping. Advances in heterostructure assembly have led to gate-tuneable spin polarisation, multiferroic behaviour and giant tunnelling magnetoresistance. These developments herald novel spintronic and quantum technologies, including low-power memory elements, spin filters, magnonic waveguides and electrically controlled magnetic switches compatible with flexible and ultracompact device architectures.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have demonstrated full electrostatic control of spin polarisation in bilayer antiferromagnetic semiconductors. By employing a dual-gate architecture on bilayer CrPS4, an applied displacement field selectively breaks spatial symmetries and switches the spin polarisation of conduction bands on and off, enabling near-unity spin filtering and layer-resolved magnetisation control. In another advance, orthogonally twisted bilayers of ferromagnetic CrSBr monolayers exhibit multistep magnetisation switching and a field-tunable transition between hysteretic and non-hysteretic magnetoresistance. The twist-angle engineering of spin anisotropy in these heterostructures reveals complex remanent states and tailored coercive fields, opening routes to designer magnetic symmetries and non-collinear configurations in van der Waals magnets.

Magnetic Properties of Two-Dimensional Van der Waals Materials publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in magnetic properties of two-dimensional van der waals materials across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Van der Waals material: A layered solid in which adjacent sheets are bonded by weak dispersion forces rather than covalent or ionic bonds.

Magnetic anisotropy: The dependence of magnetic energy on the direction of magnetisation relative to the crystal axes or film plane.

Spin–orbit coupling: An interaction between a particle’s spin and its motion that can stabilise magnetic order in two dimensions.

Ferromagnetism: A magnetic state in which atomic spins align parallel to produce a net magnetisation.

Antiferromagnetism: A magnetic arrangement in which adjacent spins align antiparallel, resulting in no net macroscopic magnetisation.

Spin wave (magnon): A collective excitation of spins in an ordered magnet, analogous to a wave of precessing magnetic moments.

Curie temperature: The critical temperature above which a ferromagnet loses its spontaneous magnetisation due to thermal agitation.

References

1. Spin dynamics in van der Waals magnetic systems. Physics Reports (2023).
2. Switching on and off the spin polarization of the conduction band in antiferromagnetic bilayer transistors. Nature Nanotechnology (2025).
3. Multistep magnetization switching in orthogonally twisted ferromagnetic monolayers. Nature Materials (2023).
4. Atomic‐Scale Visualization of Multiferroicity in Monolayer NiI2. Advanced Materials (2024).
5. Very large tunneling magnetoresistance in layered magnetic semiconductor CrI3. Nature Communications (2018).
6. Topological Spin Excitations in Honeycomb Ferromagnet CrI3. Physical Review X (2018).