biostudies-literatureCheng RNational Natural Science Foundation of ChinaNational Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China)5241https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC9448765biostudies-literatureUnknown13(1)The discovery of magnetism in ultrathin crystals opens up opportunities to explore new physics and to develop next-generation spintronic devices. Nevertheless, two-dimensional magnetic semiconductors with Curie temperatures higher than room temperature have rarely been reported. Ferrites with strongly correlated d-orbital electrons may be alternative candidates offering two-dimensional high-temperature magnetic ordering. This prospect is, however, hindered by their inherent three-dimensional bonded nature. Here, we develop a confined-van der Waals epitaxial approach to synthesizing air-stable semiconducting cobalt ferrite nanosheets with thickness down to one unit cell using a facile chemical vapor deposition process. The hard magnetic behavior and magnetic domain evolution are demonstrated by means of vibrating sample magnetometry, magnetic force microscopy and magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements, which shows high Curie temperature above 390 K and strong dimensionality effect. The addition of room-temperature magnetic semiconductors to two-dimensional material family provides possibilities for numerous novel applications in computing, sensing and information storage.Nature communicationsUltrathin ferrite nanosheets for room-temperature two-dimensional magnetic semiconductors.PMC944876591964203Wen YYuan SJiang JZhai BGuo YHe JLiao WWang HXiong WZhang ZCheng RLiu CYin LfalseUltrathin ferrite nanosheets for room-temperature two-dimensional magnetic semiconductors.The discovery of magnetism in ultrathin crystals opens up opportunities to explore new physics and to develop next-generation spintronic devices. Nevertheless, two-dimensional magnetic semiconductors with Curie temperatures higher than room temperature have rarely been reported. Ferrites with strongly correlated d-orbital electrons may be alternative candidates offering two-dimensional high-temperature magnetic ordering. This prospect is, however, hindered by their inherent three-dimensional bonded nature. Here, we develop a confined-van der Waals epitaxial approach to synthesizing air-stable semiconducting cobalt ferrite nanosheets with thickness down to one unit cell using a facile chemical vapor deposition process. The hard magnetic behavior and magnetic domain evolution are demonstrated by means of vibrating sample magnetometry, magnetic force microscopy and magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements, which shows high Curie temperature above 390 K and strong dimensionality effect. The addition of room-temperature magnetic semiconductors to two-dimensional material family provides possibilities for numerous novel applications in computing, sensing and information storage.2022-01-01T00:00:00Z2022 Sep2026-06-03T10:41:10.876Z2025-04-20T00:41:43.274ZS-EPMC94487653606824210.1038/s41467-022-33017-1