Investigating the exotic magnetic properties in manganese diboride, a borophene intercalation compound

The temperature-dependent magnetic susceptibility combined with first-principle calculations was conducted to unravel the magnetic structure and the magnetic interaction of the laminar structure of manganese diboride (MnB 2 ). MnB 2 showed weak ferromagnetic, antiferromagnetic, and paramagnetic behavior with increased temperature. Its weak ferromagnetic property below 135.6 K Curie temperature (T C ) originated from the spin canting antiferromagnetic magnetic structure. The exotic kink of temperature-dependent magnetic susceptibility at 330 K Néel temperature (T N ) correlated with the transition from antiferromagnetic to paramagnetic structure. First-principle calculation show that the antiferromagnetic ordering show lower energy, and suggest a canting anti-ferromagnetic ordering for its ferromagnetic behavior. The peculiar magnetic behavior of MnB 2 may be due to the insertion of the honeycomb boron layers into the host matrix of manganese atoms. The honeycomb boron layers played a key role in the exchange between two manganese layers. This study resolved the longstanding puzzle of the magnetic structure of MnB 2 and provided a typical laminar magnetic structure prototype.