Modulation of magnetic properties of bilayer SnSe with transition-metals doping in the interlayer

We investigate the spin-polarized electronic and magnetic properties of bilayer SnSe with transition-metal (TM) atoms doped in the interlayer by using a first-principles method. It shows that Ni dopant cannot induce the magnetism in the doped SnSe sheet, while the ground state of V, Cr, Mn, Fe and Co doped systems are magnetic and the magnetic moment mainly originates from 3d TM atom. Two types of factors, which reduce the magnetic moment of TM atoms doped in bilayer SnSe, are identified as spin-up channel of the 3d orbital loses electrons to SnSe sheet and spin-down channel of the 3d orbital gains electrons from 4s orbital. The spin polarization is found to be 100% at Fermi level for the Mn and Co atoms doped system, while the Ni-doped system is still a semiconductor with a gap of 0.26 eV. These results are potentially useful for development of spintronic devices.