First synthesis of ferromagnetic graphene system with divia

Scientists at St.
Petersburg State University in Russia, in collaboration with foreign colleagues, have created ferromagnetism in graphene for the first time in the world, and the magnetic state of the graphene obtained has laid the foundation for new electronic methods, which are expected to develop alternative technological devices that do not use silicon and improve energy efficiency and speed
.

Graphene, a two-dimensional modified form of carbon, is the lightest, strongest of all available two-dimensional materials today, and has high conductivity
.
In 2018, researchers at St.
Petersburg State University, together with scientists at Tomsk State University, Germany and Spain, modified graphene for the first time and gave it cobalt-gold properties, namely magnetic and spin-orbital interactions (between moving electrons in graphene and their own magnetic moments).

When interacting with cobalt and gold, graphene not only retains its unique properties, but also partially acquires the properties of
these metals.

As a result of the new research, the research team synthesized a graphene system
with a ferromagnetic state.
This is a unique state in which matter has a magnetizing effect without an external magnetic field
.
They used a similar substrate as before, which was made
of a thin layer of cobalt and a gold alloy on the surface.

During surface alloying, dislocation rings are formed
under the action of graphene.
These rings are triangular regions with lower density cobalt atoms, and gold atoms are closer to these regions
.
Previously, it was known that a single layer of graphene could only be completely magnetized
in a uniform manner.
However, the new study shows that the magnetization of
atoms in a single sublattice can be controlled by selective interaction with substrate structural defects.

"This is a major discovery because all electronic devices use electrical charges and generate heat
when current flows.
Our research will eventually allow information to be transmitted
in the form of spin currents.
This is a new generation of electronics, a fundamentally different logic, and a new method
of technological development that reduces power consumption and increases the speed of information transmission.
Artem Rybkin, principal associate researcher at the Laboratory of Electronics and Spin Structures of Nanosystems at St.
Petersburg State University, explains
.

An important feature of the synthesized graphene is the strong spin-orbital interaction, which can be explained
by the presence of gold atoms under graphene.
At a certain ratio of magnetic and spin-orbital interaction parameters, graphene has the potential to transition from a familiar state to a new topological state
.

The findings were published in the recent journal Physical Review
Letters.