A Density Functional Theory Study of Magnetic Transition in MnO2 adsorbed Vanadium Carbide (V$_2$C) MXene

The work reports nonmagnetic behavior (0.04 $μ$B) in two-dimensional (2D) V2C-OF MXene and ferromagnetism in MnO$_2$ adsorbed V2C-OF MXene. The density functional theory (DFT) calculations were carried out to study the magnetic moments of V$_2$C-OF and MnO$_2$@V$_2$C-OF MXene. The MXene, which is derived from the exfoliation of its parent V$_2$AlC MAX phase, shows a good potential to be a ferromagnetic when MnO$_2$ is adsorbed on it. The V$_2$C MXene and MnO$_2$ adsorbed V$_2$C MXene were successfully synthesized, as characterized using X-ray diffraction, showing an increased c-lattice parameter from 22.6Å to 27.2Å after MnO$_2$ adsorption. The DFT study confirmed that MnO$_2$ adsorbed V$_2$C MXene changed from nonmagnetic (in V$_2$C MXene) to a strong ferromagnetic with a magnetic moment of 4.48$μ$B for Mn adsorbed V$_2$C-OF MXene. The current work is a step-forward towards understanding of magnetism in two-dimensional materials for future 2D spintronics.