Edge-states ferromagnetism of WS₂ nanosheets

The multilayer WS₂ nanosheets prepared from WO₃ nanowires exhibit strong ferromagnetic behavior with saturation magnetization (M_S) of 0.0058 emu/g and coercive field (H_C) of 92 Oe at room temperature. By decreasing the temperature down to 3 K the H_c is increased up to 1115 Oe, revealing the existence of long-range magnetic ordering. Density functional theory spin-polarized calculations predict that strong ferromagnetic moments in WS₂ nanosheets are attributed to the zigzag edge sulphur S and tungsten W atoms. Our findings also suggest that the WS₂ nanosheets with a high density of edge spins could be used to fabricate spintronics devices, which are circuits utilizing the spin of the electron to process and store information.