English

Bilateral Hydrogenation Realizes High-Temperature Quantum Anomalous Hall Insulator in 2D Cr$_{\text{2}}$Ge$_{\text{2}}$Te$_{\text{6}}$

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2025-09-12 v1

Abstract

The pursuit of high-temperature quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) insulators faces fundamental challenges, including narrow topological gaps and low Curie temperatures (TCT_{\text{C}}) in existing materials. Here, we propose a transformative strategy using bilateral hydrogenation to engineer a robust QAH state in the topologically trivial ferromagnetic semiconductor Cr2_{\text{2}}Ge2_{\text{2}}Te6_{\text{6}}. First-principles calculations reveal that hydrogenation induces a topological phase transition in Cr2_{\text{2}}Ge2_{\text{2}}Te6_{\text{6}} by shifting its Dirac points-originally embedded in the conduction bands-to the vicinity of the Fermi level in Cr2_{\text{2}}Ge2_{\text{2}}Te6_{\text{6}}H6_{\text{6}}. This electronic restructuring, coupled with spin-orbit coupling, opens a global topological gap of 118.1 meV, establishing a robust QAH state with Chern number C=C= 3. Concurrently, hydrogenation enhances ferromagnetic superexchange via the dz2d_{z^{2}}-pzp_{z}-dxzd_{xz} channel, significantly strengthening the nearest-neighbor coupling J1J_{\text{1}} by 3.06 times and switching J2J_{\text{2}} from antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic. Monte Carlo simulations predict a high TCT_{\text{C}} = 198 K, sustained well above liquid nitrogen temperature and far exceeding pristine Cr2_{\text{2}}Ge2_{\text{2}}Te6_{\text{6}} (28 K). This work establishes surface hydrogenation as a powerful route to simultaneously control topology and magnetism in 2D materials, unlocking high-temperature QAH platforms for dissipationless spintronic applications.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2509.09164,
  title  = {Bilateral Hydrogenation Realizes High-Temperature Quantum Anomalous Hall Insulator in 2D Cr$_{\text{2}}$Ge$_{\text{2}}$Te$_{\text{6}}$},
  author = {Xiang Li and Xin-Wei Yi and Jing-Yang You and Jia-Wen Li and Qing-Han Yang and Gang Su and Bo Gu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.09164},
  year   = {2025}
}