For years, researchers have been trying to make thinner, smaller two-dimensional magnets. Doing so would allow us to store data at a much higher density. Now, in an exciting reveal, Scientists from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and UC Berkeley have discovered an ultrathin magnet that operates at room temperature. This development could lead to all sorts of advancements in computing and electronics, including high-density, next-generation memory devices and tools for quantum physics. 

2D Applications

This ultrathin magnet is an exciting discovery for several reasons — first, it makes 2D magnetism possible in ambient temperatures, and second, it reveals a new mechanism for realizing 2D magnetic materials. Until this discovery, memory devices have used a magnetic component made of magnetic thin films; however, they were still three-dimensional at the atomic level (hundreds or thousands of atoms thick). This discovery is also the first to reach an actual 2D limit — as thin as a single atom.

Quantum Physics

Additionally, this new ultrathin magnet allows researchers new opportunities to study quantum physics that, according to Lab faculty scientist Jie Yao, “open up every single atom for examination,” which may reveal how quantum physics governs each single magnetic atom and the interactions between them.

How it’s Made

To make this discovery a reality, scientists synthesized the new magnet, which is called a cobalt-doped van der Waals zinc-oxide magnet, from a solution of graphene oxide, zinc, and cobalt. After baking in a conventional lab oven, it was transformed into a single atomic layer of zinc-oxide with some cobalt atoms between layers of graphene. Lastly, they burned away the graphene. That left a single atomic layer of cobalt-doped zinc-oxide. Excitingly, this process is potentially scalable for mass production (and at a lower cost).

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