Pervasive beyond Room-Temperature Ferromagnetism in a Doped van der Waals Magnet

The existence of long-range magnetic order in low-dimensional magnetic systems, such as the quasi-two-dimensional van der Waals (vdW) magnets, has attracted intensive studies of new physical phenomena. The vdW FeNGeTe₂ (N=3, 4, 5; FGT) family is exceptional, owing to its vast tunability of magnetic properties. In particular, a ferromagnetic ordering temperature (TC) above room temperature at N=5 (F5GT) is observed. Here, our study shows that, by nickel (Ni) substitution of iron in F5GT, a record high TC=478(6) K is achieved. Importantly, pervasive, beyond room-temperature ferromagnetism exists in almost the entire doping range of the phase diagram of Ni-F5GT. We argue that this striking observation in Ni-F5GT can be possibly due to several contributing factors, including increased 3D magnetic couplings due to the structural alterations.