Copper Intercalation Induces Amorphization of 2D Cu/WO for Room-Temperature Ferromagnetism.

Ferromagnetism in the two-dimensional limit has become an intriguing topic for exploring new physical phenomena and potential applications. To induce ferromagnetism in 2D materials, intercalation has been proposed to be an effective strategy, which could introduce lattice distortion and unpaired spin into the material to modulate the magnetocrystalline anisotropy and magnetic exchange interactions. To strengthen the understanding of the magnetic origin of 2D material, Cu was introduced into a 2D WO through chemical intercalation in this work (2D Cu/WO). In contrast to the diamagnetic nature of Cu and WO, room-temperature ferromagnetism was characterized for 2D Cu/WO. Experimental and theoretical results attribute the ferromagnetism to the bound magnetic polaron in 2D Cu/WO, which is consist of unpaired spins from W/W with localized carriers from oxygen vacancies. Overall, this work provides a novel approach to introduce ferromagnetism into diamagnetic WO, which could be applied for a wider scope of 2D materials.