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Magnetocaloric effect and its electric-field regulation in CrI3/metal heterostructure

Weiwei He State Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control for Aerospace Structures & Key Lab for Intelligent Nano Materials and Devices of Ministry of Education & Institute for Frontier Science, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA), Nanjing 210016, China    Ziming Tang State Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control for Aerospace Structures & Key Lab for Intelligent Nano Materials and Devices of Ministry of Education & Institute for Frontier Science, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA), Nanjing 210016, China    Qihua Gong State Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control for Aerospace Structures & Key Lab for Intelligent Nano Materials and Devices of Ministry of Education & Institute for Frontier Science, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA), Nanjing 210016, China [email protected]    Min Yi State Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control for Aerospace Structures & Key Lab for Intelligent Nano Materials and Devices of Ministry of Education & Institute for Frontier Science, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA), Nanjing 210016, China [email protected]    Wanlin Guo State Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control for Aerospace Structures & Key Lab for Intelligent Nano Materials and Devices of Ministry of Education & Institute for Frontier Science, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA), Nanjing 210016, China
Abstract

The extraordinary properties of a heterostructure by stacking atom-thick van der Waals (vdW) magnets have been extensively studied. However, the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) of heterostructures that are based on monolayer magnets remains to be explored. Herein, we deliberate MCE of vdW heterostructure composed of a monolayer CrI3 and metal atomic layers (Ag, Hf, Au, and Pb). It is revealed that heterostructure engineering by introducing metal substrate can improve MCE of CrI3, particularly boosting relative cooling power to 471.72 µJ m-2 and adiabatic temperature change to 2.1 K at 5 T for CrI3/Hf. This improved MCE is ascribed to the enhancement of magnetic moment and intralayer exchange coupling in CrI3 due to the CrI3/metal heterointerface induced charge transfer. Electric field is further found to tune MCE of CrI3 in heterostructures and could shift the peak temperature by around 10 K in CrI3/Hf, thus manipulating the working temperature window of MCE. The discovered electric-field and substrate regulated MCE in CrI3/metal heterostructure opens new avenues for low-dimensional magnetic refrigeration.

\altaffiliation

Authors contributed equally. \altaffiliationAuthors contributed equally. \alsoaffiliationMIIT Key Laboratory of Aerospace Information Materials and Physics & College of Physics, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA), Nanjing 211106, China \abbreviationsIR,NMR,UV

Keywords: Magnetocaloric effect, Heterostructure, Monolayer magnets, Metal substrate, Electric field

1 1. INTRODUCTION

Magnetic cooling based on magnetocaloric effect (MCE) has emerged as a promising alternative to gaseous cooling with its ever-increasing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions 1, 2, 3, 4. As the inherited characteristics of magnetic materials, MCE is closely related to the magnetic properties and magnetization behavior under a magnetic field. The unpaired spins in magnetic materials are aligned when a magnetic field is applied, leading to a decrease in magnetic entropy and subsequent release of heat into the surroundings. Using MCE, it is possible to achieve target temperatures ranging from ultra-low to room temperature 5, 6. Up to date, the majority of literature on MCE has focused on bulk magnetocaloric materials 7, 8, 9, 10 or thin films with nanometers to micrometers thickness 11, 12, 13, restricting the application of magnetic refrigeration in compact and miniaturized nanodevices.

In recent years, two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) magnets with a wide variety of unconventional properties, which differ from their bulk counterparts 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, have drawn immense interest in fundamental research and device applications 20, 21, 22, 23, 24. Layered vdW magnets are bonded to each other through weak vdW forces, allowing the easy separation of monolayers. For instance, in the monolayer CrI3 that is fabricated by micromechanical exfoliation of bulk CrI3 crystals, the magnetic anisotropy cancels out the thermal fluctuations at finite temperatures and the long-range magnetic order remains 14. Therefore, the spontaneous magnetization in 2D magnets offers new perspectives for exploring MCE down to the monolayer limit.

The application and characterization of monolayer CrI3 usually requires that it be stacked on top of a substrate rather than isolated 25, 26, 27. Thus, vdW magnetic heterostructures with intrinsic magnetism and excellent stacking capability have attracted extensive research 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33. Diverse combination of heterostructures formed by CrI3 is an effective approach toward achieving novel properties, such as thermal spin-filtering effect 34, quantum anomalous Hall effect 35, 36, half-metallicity 37, 38, 39 , and enhanced magnetic properties 40, 41, 42. The effect of various substrates on CrI3 in terms of MCE, however, remains to be elucidated, which has stimulated our great interests in MCE of CrI3 in hererostructures.

In the present work, we investigate MCE of CrI3/metal heterostructure and its electric-field (EE) control. Four types of metals, i.e., Ag, Hf, Au, and Pb, are chosen to construct the heterostructures with monolayer CrI3. First-principles calculations indicate that metal substrates significantly enhance the magnetic moment and nearest-neighbor exchange interaction of CrI3, while they have different roles in magnetocrystalline energy (MAE). Atomistic spin simulations show that Curie temperature (TCT_{\text{C}}) and saturation magnetization of CrI3 in heterostructures are boosted compared with the free-standing one. In addition, magnetocaloric thermodynamics confirms that heterostructure engineering improves MCE of monolayer CrI3, which is further enhanced in CrI3/Hf by applying a negative EE. Our work not only demystifies tunable MCE in 2D magnets via substrates and EE, but also opens new vistas for low-dimensional magnetically cooling devices.

2 2. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

2.1 2.1 Magnetic properties and its electric-field tunability

Refer to caption
Figure 1: The atomic structure and magnetic properties of CrI3 as a function of EE in CrI3/metal vdW heterostructures. (a) Top and side views of CrI3/Pb(111) heterostructure. Dark grey, purple, and purplish-blue balls represent Pb, I, and Cr atoms, respectively. (b) Magnetic moment per Cr atom, (c) MAE, (d) and (e) magnetic exchange interaction parameters JiJ_{i}, and (f) TCT_{\text{C}} of CrI3 in monolayer and CrI3/metal heterostructures as a function of EE.

Due to the interfacial interaction, 2D vdW magnets can change their magnetic properties upon contact with other materials. Based on thermodynamic stability assessment, Yang et al. investigated the magnetic properties of CrI3 with 3dd transition-metal atoms (from Sc to Zn) absorbed on its surface 43. In our work, four types of metal are selected (e.g., Ag, Hf, Au, Pb) to construct heterostructures with a favorable lattice match. Fig. 1(a) shows the atomic stacking in CrI3/Pb heterostructure. The other three types of CrI3/metal (Ag, Au, and Hf) heterostructure are presented in Fig. S1 (Supporting Information). It is noteworthy that CrI3 in heterostructures has fixed lattice parameters of monolayer CrI3, allowing the metals to be compressed or stretched within an acceptable strain range around ±\pm 5%. As illustrated in Fig. 1(a), we are able to investigate EE controlled magnetic properties of CrI3/metal heterostructures with the help of dipole layer method.

Magnetic properties of CrI3 are affected by metal substrate and EE. As shown in Fig. 1(b)-(f), the impact of different metal substrates on CrI3 are dissimilar. The magnetic moment, J1J_{1}, and TCT_{\text{C}} of CrI3 absorbed upon four kinds of metal layers are increased when compared to those of monolayer CrI3. In contrast, MAE of CrI3 is weakened by Ag and Pb substrates, while Au and Hf substrates improve it. The change of J2J_{2} shows a similar trend. Taking CrI3/Hf heterostructure as an example, a detail analysis of the influence of metal substrate on the magnetic moment and MAE of CrI3 is presented. As can be seen from Fig. S2, the introduction of Hf intrigues the redistribution of electrons from spin-down channel to spin-up channel on the CrI3 side, thereby increasing the magnetic moment of Cr in Fig. 1(b). Considering that I atom (5pp-element) has a much stronger spin-orbit coupling (SOC) effect than Cr (3dd-element) 44, pp-orbital resolved MAE of I is analyzed in Fig. S3. The enhancement of matrix element differences (pxp_{x}, pyp_{y}) compensates for the decrease of (pxp_{x}, pzp_{z}), eventually improving MAE of CrI3/Hf in Fig. 1(c).

Magnetic performance of CrI3/metal heterostructures under EE exhibit more diverse variations. Fig. 1(b) shows the effect of EE on the magnetic moment of Cr . It can be seen that compared to monolayer CrI3, heterostructures not only achieve an increase in magnetic moment of Cr by promoting spin polarization through charge transfer, but also introduce the strong magneto-electric response that is neglectable in monolayer CrI3. Under a positive EE, the magnetic moment of Cr slightly decreases when the strength of EE increases. This could be explained by the charge redistribution that leads to a decrease of net charge in the spin-up channel 41, 45. Fig. S2 further shows the charge difference in CrI3/Hf heterostructure under different EE. MAE of CrI3 in CrI3/Hf diminishes with the increasing EE, as shown in Fig. 1(c). Similar to the CrI3/metal heterostructure without EE, the synergistic effect of matrix element differences (pxp_{x}, pyp_{y}) and (pxp_{x}, pzp_{z}) promotes the response of MAE to EE (Fig. S3). Fig. 1(d) and 1(e) reveal the trends of ferromagnetic exchange interaction parameters J1J_{1} and J2J_{2} as a function of EE. From our calculations, it is evident that when EE is increased, J1J_{1} and J2J_{2} of CrI3 in CrI3/Hf are enhanced, while J1J_{1} of CrI3/Pb and J2J_{2} of CrI3/Au are decreased. To explain the modulation of JiJ_{i} by EE and metal substrate, the energy differences between ferromagnetic (FM) and antiferromagnetic (AFM) states are presented in Fig. S4. Similar trends are also found in Fig. 1(f) : TCT_{\text{C}} of CrI3 in CrI3/Hf increases by about 10 K as EE is raised, whereas TCT_{\text{C}} of CrI3 adsorbed on Pb and Au decreases by 5 K.

2.2 2.2 Demagnetization behavior of CrI3 in heterostructures

Refer to caption
Figure 2: Isothermal magnetization curves of CrI3 in (a,b) monolayer CrI3, (c,d) CrI3/Ag heterostructure, (e,f) CrI3/Hf heterostructure, (g,h) CrI3/Au heterostructure, and (i,j) CrI3/Pb heterostructure with magnetic field up to 9 T. The field directions are applied along in-plane for the top-row subfigures and out-of-plane for the bottom-row subfigures. The curves are displayed every 10 K.

In our previous work 46, we found that MCE indeed remains in various 2D magnets and can be remarkably tuned by strain. As a starting point for assessing MCE of CrI3 in heterostructures, we first examine the demagnetization behavior of CrI3 at different temperatures. Fig. 2 gives the isothermal magnetization curves in monolayer CrI3 and heterostructures under in-plane and out-of-plane HH. The magnetization vector of Cr atoms turns to the direction of applied field as HH increases, and gradually becomes saturated under a high field. Moreover, saturation magnetization decreases with increasing temperature. Meanwhile, saturation magnetization of CrI3 at 0 K should be proportional to the magnetic moment of Cr atom. Thus, CrI3/Hf heterostructure at the same temperature is expected to have the highest saturation magnetization according to Fig. 1(b).

Figure 2 also confirms the anisotropy of demagnetization behavior. The out-of-plane magnetic fields saturate magnetization curves much more easily than in-plane ones, owing to the out-of-plane MAE in Fig. 1(c). This anisotropic phenomenon has been explained at length in bulk CrI3 47, 48, and conclusions are also applicable to monolayers. When compared to monolayer CrI3, the magnetization curves of CrI3 in CrI3/Ag and CrI3/Pb heterostructures tend to saturation at lower fields (Fig. 2(c) and(i)), while those of CrI3 in CrI3/Hf and CrI3/Au heterostructures remain unsaturated under HH up to 8 T (Fig. 2(e) and(d)). This is related to different effects of metal substrate on MAE of CrI3, which is similar to the trend in Fig. 1(c). In addition, magnetization curves in different heterostructures are distinguished at the same temperature. Compared with the magnetization curve of monolayer CrI3 at 100 K, CrI3 in CrI3/Au shows the same magnetization degree until 160 K. Magnetization curves of CrI3 in CrI3/Hf at different EE are supplemented in Fig. S5. The saturation magnetization at 0 K and the anisotropy under different EE only change slightly under EE modulation.

2.3 2.3 Magnetocaloric effect and its electric-field tunability

Refer to caption
Figure 3: Influence of metal substrates on MCE of CrI3 under a magnetic field of 5 T applied in different directions. (a) Maximum magnetic entropy change (ΔSMmax-\Delta S_{\text{M}}^{\text{max}}), (b) maximum adiabatic temperature change (ΔTadmax\Delta T_{\text{ad}}^{\text{max}}), and (c) relative cooling power (RCP).

To explore the influence of metal substrates on MCE, maximum magnetic entropy change (ΔSMmax-\Delta S_{\text{M}}^{\text{max}}), maximum adiabatic temperature change (ΔTadmax\Delta T_{\text{ad}}^{\text{max}}), and relative cooling power (RCP) with a magnetic field of 5 T applied in different directions are shown in Fig. 3. ΔSMmax-\Delta S_{\text{M}}^{\text{max}}, ΔTadmax\Delta T_{\text{ad}}^{\text{max}}, and RCP of monolayer CrI3 in our work are calculated to be 13.48 µJ m-2 K, 1.89 K, and 404.35 µJ m-2, respectively. The estimated results of monolayer CrI3 are in good agreement with the experimental work of bulk counterpart 47, whose ΔSMmax-\Delta S_{\text{M}}^{\text{max}} and ΔTadmax\Delta T_{\text{ad}}^{\text{max}} are measured as around 3.8 J kg-1 K and 1.55 K under an out-of-plane magnetic field of 5 T. It also can be seen in Fig. 3 that metal substrates do improve MCE of CrI3, particularly in terms of increasing RCP. CrI3 in all heterostructures achieves a higher RCP compared with monolayer CrI3, as shown in Fig. 3(c). Among them, RCP of CrI3 in CrI3/Hf heterostructure is as high as 471.72 µJ m-2 at 5 T, suggesting there is more heat transferred between hot and cold reservoirs during a magnetic refrigeration cycle. In heterostructures, however, ΔSMmax-\Delta S_{\text{M}}^{\text{max}} of CrI3 absorbed on four types of metal substrates does not surpass that of monolayer CrI3 (Fig. 3(a)), mainly owing to the improved TCT_{\text{C}} of CrI3. More specifically, according to Eq 2, materials with superior ΔSMmax-\Delta S_{\text{M}}^{\text{max}} possess a comparatively larger magnetization and a relatively low TCT_{\text{C}}. The small increase in the magnetization cannot counteract the substantial improvement in TCT_{\text{C}} of CrI3 in heterostructures, thus leading to a decrease in ΔSMmax-\Delta S_{\text{M}}^{\text{max}}. In contrast to ΔSMmax-\Delta S_{\text{M}}^{\text{max}}, ΔTadmax\Delta T_{\text{ad}}^{\text{max}} reflects the enhancement of MCE by metal substrates. On account of the significantly improved magnetic moment and moderate TCT_{\text{C}}, Hf substrate can increase ΔTadmax\Delta T_{\text{ad}}^{\text{max}} of CrI3 by 10.7% (up to 2.1 K) under an out-of-plane magnetic field, as shown in Fig. 3(b). The correlation between MCE and the applied field directions is also present in Fig. 3. It is clear that the difference between in-plane and out-of-plane MCE in CrI3/Hf heterostructure is larger than that in monolayer CrI3, while it is smaller in CrI3/Ag and CrI3/Pb heterostructures. The effect of substrates on anisotropic MCE in CrI3 is also essentially attributed to the effect of substrates on MAE (Fig. 1(c)).

Refer to caption
Figure 4: Electric-field-tunable MCE and its potential application in magnetic cooling. EE-tunable (a) isothermal magnetic entropy change (ΔSM-\Delta S_{\text{M}}) and (b) adiabatic temperature change (ΔTad\Delta T_{\text{ad}}) vs TT curves of CrI3 in CrI3/Hf heterostructure. (c) Schematic illustration of Carnot refrigeration cycle using MCE of CrI3/metal heterostructure under EE, in which specific cooling power (SCP) of CrI3/Hf heterostructure at 5 T is estimated.

Figure 4(a) and (b) present the EE-tunable MCE of CrI3 in CrI3/Hf heterostructure under the in-plane and out-of-plane HH. Our calculation results show that, the magnetocaloric performance of CrI3 in CrI3/Hf heterostructure is further enhanced at a negative EE, while the isothermal magnetic entropy change (ΔSM-\Delta S_{\text{M}}) decreased slightly at a positive EE (Fig. 4(a)). This can be understood from Eq.2, which indicates that the partial derivative of magnetization with respect to temperature determines the entropy change. As shown in Fig. S5, a negative EE induces the magnetization of CrI3 in CrI3/Hf to be more sensitive to temperature changes than a positive EE, resulting in higher ΔSMmax-\Delta S_{\text{M}}^{\text{max}} under the same HH. A similar explanation can be used for ΔTadmax\Delta T_{\text{ad}}^{\text{max}} in Fig. 4(b). In addition, there is a consistent trend between the shift of peak temperature position in MCE curves and the adjustment of TCT_{\text{C}} regulated by EE, as shown in Fig. 4(a) and (b). By applying EE to CrI3/Hf heterostructure, the peak temperature of ΔSM-\Delta S_{\text{M}} and adiabatic temperature change (ΔTad\Delta T_{\text{ad}}) curves is shift up to 10 K, thereby extending the working temperature window of MCE for CrI3/metal heterostructures. ΔSM-\Delta S_{\text{M}} and ΔTad\Delta T_{\text{ad}} curves of CrI3 in other heterostructures are given in Fig. S6 and Fig. S7, and these curves are almost unaffected by EE modulation.

Schematic illustration of magnetic Carnot refrigeration cycle using CrI3/metal heterostructure under EE is shown in Fig. 4(c). We propose an ideal assumption that when the cooled object touches a heterostructure under an applied periodic magnetic field, heat can be completely transferred outward from the cooled object. With an operating frequency of 1 Hz, the ideal specific cooling power (SCP) of CrI3/Hf heterostructure around 85 K is close to 1.3 nW cm2 at 5 T. Compared to monolayer CrI3 46, CrI3/Hf heterostructure has an operating temperature increase of roughly 20 K owing to the metal substrate, and the operating temperature could be further shift up to 10 K by applying EE.

3 3. CONCLUSIONS

In summary, MCE of monolayer CrI3 absorbed on various metal substrates and its EE modulation is comprehensively investigated using first-principles calculations, atomistic spin simulations, and magnetocaloric thermodynamics. Magnetic properties of CrI3 are affected by metal substrates and exhibit more diverse variations under EE, mainly owing to the charge transfer at the interface. Ag, Hf, Au, and Pb substrate are demonstrated to improve the magnetocaloric performance of CrI3, particularly with RCP and ΔTad\Delta T_{\text{ad}} of CrI3 in CrI3/Hf are increased to 471.72 µJ m-2 and 2.1 K at 5 T, respectively. Ag and Pb are found to weaken the MCE anisotropy, while Hf enhances it. Moreover, CrI3 in CrI3/Hf with a negative EE exhibits better magnetocaloric performance than that with a positive one. Through EE modulation, the peak temperature of ΔSM-\Delta S_{\text{M}} and ΔTad\Delta T_{\text{ad}} curves in CrI3/Hf can be shift up to 10 K, allowing for widely tunable working temperature window of MCE. Our results on MCE of heterostructure formed by monolayer magnets and its EE regulation provide an important basis for designing and building authentic low-dimensional magnetic refrigeration devices.

4 4. METHODOLOGY

The first-principles calculations within density functional theory are carried out to calculate the magnetic properties of monolayer CrI3 absorbed on four types of metal substrates (Ag, Hf, Au, and Pb) by using Vienna Ab initio Simulation Package (VASP) 49, 50. The exchange-correlation functional is treated with the the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) of the Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof (PBE) form 51. The CrI3/metal heterostructures are constructed by stacking four metallic layers onto a monolayer CrI3 sheet. To avoid the interaction between neighboring slabs, the vacuum space along the zz-axis is set to 35 Å 52. A cutoff energy of 500 eV is utilized. The convergence criteria for energy and force in structure relaxation are 10-5 eV and 0.01 eV/Å, respectively. The energy convergence is 10-6 eV in self-consistent electronic calculations. The 5×5×15\times 5\times 1, 11×11×111\times 11\times 1, and 11×11×111\times 11\times 1 Monkhorst–Pack kk-mesh in the CrI3/Pb heterostructure (3×3×13\times 3\times 1, 5×5×15\times 5\times 1, and 5×5×15\times 5\times 1 in other heterostructures that contain more atoms) are adopted in the ionic optimization, electronic optimization, and MAE calculation, respectively 53. The MAE is obtained by calculating the energy differences between the spin quantization axes whose directions are aligned with different crystallographic axes. In order to calculate the MAE, SOC is considered54. The magnetic exchange parameters are determined by substituting the magnetic configuration energies into the classic spin Hamiltonian 55

H\displaystyle H =E012J1N𝐬i𝐬j12J2NN𝐬i𝐬j,\displaystyle=E_{0}-\frac{1}{2}J_{1}\sum_{N}\mathbf{s}_{i}\cdot\mathbf{s}_{j}-\frac{1}{2}J_{2}\sum_{NN}\mathbf{s}_{i}\cdot\mathbf{s}_{j}, (1)

where E0E_{0} is the energy without spin contribution, 𝐬i\mathbf{s}_{i} represents the unit vector of the atomistic spin direction at atom ii. J1J_{1} and J2J_{2} denote the nearest-neighbour (NN) and next-NN exchange interaction parameters, respectively.

After obtaining the magnetic exchange parameters from first-principles calculations, TCT_{\text{C}} and temperature-dependent magnetization can be determined by the atomic spin model that has been numerically implemented in VAMPIRE 56, 57, 58. The demagnetization field caused by the atomistic spins themselves is also considered. The figures of merit for MCE are generally described by ΔSM\Delta S_{\text{M}} and ΔTad\Delta T_{\text{ad}} upon a variation of magnetic field (HH). Based on the classical thermodynamics and the Maxwell relation, ΔSM\Delta S_{\text{M}} is given by 59, 60

ΔSM=0H(SH)TdH=μ00H(MT)HdH,\Delta S_{\text{M}}=\int_{0}^{H}\left(\frac{\partial S}{\partial H}\right)_{T}\text{d}H=\mu_{0}\int_{0}^{H}\left(\frac{\partial M}{\partial T}\right)_{H}\text{d}H, (2)

where SS and MM refer to entropy and magnetization, respectively. μ0\mu_{0} is vacuum permeability. Normally, MCE is characterized by ΔSM-\Delta S_{\text{M}}, given that the degree of disorder in the magnetic moment decreases with increasing HH. ΔTad\Delta T_{\text{ad}} can be similarly calculated as

ΔTad\displaystyle\Delta T_{\text{ad}} =μ00HTρcp(SH)TdH\displaystyle=-\mu_{0}\int_{0}^{H}\frac{T}{\rho c_{\text{p}}}\left(\frac{\partial S}{\partial H}\right)_{T}\text{d}H (3)
=μ00HTρcp(MT)HdH,\displaystyle=-\mu_{0}\int_{0}^{H}\frac{T}{\rho c_{\text{p}}}\left(\frac{\partial M}{\partial T}\right)_{H}\text{d}H,

where ρ\rho and cpc_{\text{p}} are density and specific heat capacity of monolayer CrI3, respectively. RCP as another descriptor for MCE is used to characterize the heat transfer across reservoirs and reveal the potential MCE in magnets, which is calculated as

RCP=|ΔSMmax|×δTFWHM,\text{RCP}=\left|\Delta S_{\text{M}}^{\text{max}}\right|\times\delta T_{\text{FWHM}}, (4)

where the δTFWHM\delta T_{\text{FWHM}} means the full width at half maximum of the ΔSM-\Delta S_{\text{M}} vs TT curve.

Supporting Information

Top and side views of CrI3/metal vdW heterostructures; Spin-dependent plane integrated charge density difference along c/zc/z direction; The pp-orbital resolved MAE of I atom in CrI3; Energy difference between FM and AFM configurations of CrI3 in CrI3/metal vdW heterostructures; Isothermal demagnetization curves of CrI3 in CrI3/Hf heterostructure under different EE; Electric-field-tunable ΔSM-\Delta S_{\text{M}} vs TT curves for CrI3/metal heterostructures; Electric-field-tunable ΔTad\Delta T_{\text{ad}} vs TT curves for CrI3/metal heterostructures.

Acknowledgment

The authors acknowledge the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12272173, 11902150), the National Overseas Thousand Youth Talents Program, the Research Fund of State Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control of Mechanical Structures (MCMS-I-0419G01 and MCMS-I-0421K01), a project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, and the Interdisciplinary Innovation Fund for Doctoral Students of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (KXKCXJJ202306). This work is partially supported by High Performance Computing Platform of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Simulations were also performed on Hefei advanced computing center.

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