Weyl fermions, Fermi arcs, and minority-spin carriers in ferromagnetic CoS2

Tunable Colossal Anomalous Hall Conductivity in Half-Metallic Material Induced by d-Wave-Like Spin-Orbit Gap

The anomalous Hall conductivity (AHC) in magnetic materials, resulting from inverted band topology, has emerged as a key adjustable function in spin-torque devices and advanced magnetic sensors. Among systems with near-half-metallicity and broken time-reversal symmetry, cobalt disulfide (CoS2) has proven to be a material capable of significantly enhancing its AHC. In this study, the AHC of CoS2 is empirically assessed by manipulating the chemical potential through Fe- (hole) and Ni- (electron) doping. The primary mechanism underlying the colossal AHC is identified through the application of density functional theory and tight-binding analyses. The main source of this substantial AHC is traced to four spin-polarized massive Dirac dispersions in the kz = 0 plane of the Brillouin zone, located slightly below the Fermi level. In Co0.95Fe0.05S2, the AHC, which is directly proportional to the momentum-space integral of the Berry curvature (BC), reached a record-breaking value of 2507 Ω-1cm-1. This is because the BCs of the four Dirac dispersions all exhibit the same sign, a consequence of the d-wave-like spin-orbit coupling among spin-polarized eg orbitals.

Prediction of intrinsic room-temperature ferromagnetism in two-dimensional CrInX2 (X = S, Se, Te) monolayers

Herein, using density functional theory, novel two-dimensional (2D) CrInX2 (X = S, Se, Te) structures are predicted to be practical ferromagnetic (FM) semiconductors. Phonon vibrations and molecular dynamics simulations verified their structural and thermodynamic stability. Sizable fully spin-polarized band gaps of 1.03 and 0.69 eV are found for CrInS2 and CrInSe2, while CrInTe2 exhibits half-metallic band nature (at 0 K with a perfect lattice). The high magnetic anisotropy energies are responsible for their long-range spin polarization. The Curie temperatures (Tc) are estimated to be 347, 397 and 447 K for CrInS2, CrInSe2 and CrInTe2, respectively, all well above the room-temperature. The high Tc originates from unusual FM direct exchange, the efficient super-exchange coupling between neighboring Cr eg-orbitals with zero virtual exchange gaps and the presence of dual Cr-X-Cr super-exchange channels. Our systematic study of the CrInX2 monolayer suggests that it could be a promising material for spintronics applications.

Anomalous Hall Conductivity and Nernst Effect of the Ideal Weyl Semimetallic Ferromagnet EuCd2 As2

Weyl semimetal is a unique topological phase with topologically protected band crossings in the bulk and robust surface states called Fermi arcs. Weyl nodes always appear in pairs with opposite chiralities, and they need to have either time-reversal or inversion symmetry broken. When the time-reversal symmetry is broken the minimum number of Weyl points (WPs) is two. If these WPs are located at the Fermi level, they form an ideal Weyl semimetal (WSM). In this study, intrinsic ferromagnetic (FM) EuCd2 As2 are grown, predicted to be an ideal WSM and studied its electronic structure by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, and scanning tunneling microscopy which agrees closely with the first principles calculations. Moreover, anomalous Hall conductivity and Nernst effect are observed, resulting from the non-zero Berry curvature, and the topological Hall effect arising from changes in the band structure caused by spin canting produced by magnetic fields. These findings can help realize several exotic quantum phenomena in inorganic topological materials that are otherwise difficult to assess because of the presence of multiple pairs of Weyl nodes.

Scaling of Berry-curvature monopole dominated large linear positive magnetoresistance

The linear positive magnetoresistance (LPMR) is a widely observed phenomenon in topological materials, which is promising for potential applications on topological spintronics. However, its mechanism remains ambiguous yet, and the effect is thus uncontrollable. Here, we report a quantitative scaling model that correlates the LPMR with the Berry curvature, based on a ferromagnetic Weyl semimetal CoS2 that bears the largest LPMR of over 500% at 2 K and 9 T, among known magnetic topological semimetals. In this system, masses of Weyl nodes existing near the Fermi level, revealed by theoretical calculations, serve as Berry-curvature monopoles and low-effective-mass carriers. Based on the Weyl picture, we propose a relation [Formula: see text], with B being the applied magnetic field and [Formula: see text] the average Berry curvature near the Fermi surface, and further introduce temperature factor to both MR/B slope (MR per unit field) and anomalous Hall conductivity, which establishes the connection between the model and experimental measurements. A clear picture of the linearly slowing down of carriers, i.e., the LPMR effect, is demonstrated under the cooperation of the k-space Berry curvature and real-space magnetic field. Our study not only provides experimental evidence of Berry curvature-induced LPMR but also promotes the common understanding and functional designing of the large Berry-curvature MR in topological Dirac/Weyl systems for magnetic sensing or information storage.

Identification of Interface Structure for a Topological CoS2 Single Crystal in Oxygen Evolution Reaction with High Intrinsic Reactivity

Transition metal chalcogenides such as CoS₂ have been reported as competitive catalysts for oxygen evolution reaction. It has been well confirmed that surface modification is inevitable in such a process, with the formation of different re-constructed oxide layers. However, which oxide species should be responsible for the optimized catalytic efficiencies and the detailed interface structure between the modified layer and precatalyst remain controversial. Here, a topological CoS₂ single crystal with a well-defined exposed surface is used as a model catalyst, which makes the direct investigation of the interface structure possible. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy of the sample reveals the formation of a 2 nm thickness Co₃O₄ layer that grows epitaxially on the CoS₂ surface. Thick CoO pieces are also observed and are loosely attached to the bulk crystal. The compact Co₃O₄ interface structure can result in the fast electron transfer from adsorbed O species to the bulk crystal compared with CoO pieces as evidenced by the electrochemical impedance measurements. This leads to the competitive apparent and intrinsic reactivity of the crystal despite the low surface geometric area. These findings are helpful for the understanding of catalytic origins of transition metal chalcogenides and the designing of high-performance catalysts with interface-phase engineering.

Key features of the POU transcription factor Oct4 from an evolutionary perspective

Oct4, a class V POU-domain protein that is encoded by the Pou5f1 gene, is thought to be a key transcription factor in the early development of mammals. This transcription factor plays indispensable roles in pluripotent stem cells as well as in the acquisition of pluripotency during somatic cell reprogramming. Oct4 has also been shown to play a role as a pioneer transcription factor during zygotic genome activation (ZGA) from zebrafish to human. However, during the past decade, several studies have brought these conclusions into question. It was clearly shown that the first steps in mouse development are not affected by the loss of Oct4. Subsequently, the role of Oct4 as a genome activator was brought into doubt. It was also found that the reprogramming of somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) could proceed without Oct4. In this review, we summarize recent findings, reassess the role of Oct4 in reprogramming and ZGA, and point to structural features that may underlie this role. We speculate that pluripotent stem cells resemble neural stem cells more closely than previously thought. Oct4 orthologs within the POUV class hold key roles in genome activation during early development of species with late ZGA. However, in Placentalia, eutherian-specific proteins such as Dux overtake Oct4 in ZGA and endow them with the formation of an evolutionary new tissue-the placenta.

Evolving Devil's Staircase Magnetization from Tunable Charge Density Waves in Nonsymmorphic Dirac Semimetals

While several magnetic topological semimetals have been discovered in recent years, their band structures are far from ideal, often obscured by trivial bands at the Fermi energy. Square-net materials with clean, linearly dispersing bands show potential to circumvent this issue. CeSbTe, a square-net material, features multiple magnetic-field-controllable topological phases. Here, it is shown that in this material, even higher degrees of tunability can be achieved by changing the electron count at the square-net motif. Increased electron filling results in structural distortion and formation of charge density waves (CDWs). The modulation wave-vector evolves continuously leading to a region of multiple discrete CDWs and a corresponding complex "Devil's staircase" magnetic ground state. A series of fractionally quantized magnetization plateaus is observed, which implies direct coupling between CDW and a collective spin-excitation. It is further shown that the CDW creates a robust idealized nonsymmorphic Dirac semimetal, thus providing access to topological systems with rich magnetism.