Room temperature ferromagnetism and its origin for amorphous MoSe2 nanoflowers

Amorphous MoSe2 has been fabricated hydrothermally, and the degree of amorphousness was tuned by post-annealing procedures. Large room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM) has been achieved for the amorphous MoSe2 which weakens during crystallization and phase transition from the 1T to the 2H structure. Theoretical calculations indicate that the amorphous MoSe2 exhibits higher magnetization compared with the crystalline 1T and 2H phases and that the magnetization mainly originates from the d orbitals of Mo atoms. This study provides insights into the RTFM for the amorphous transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) and provides amorphousness as a new option to tailor the magnetization of the TMDs for future spintronic applications.