Magnetic behavior of bulk and nanostructured MnxTaS2

At its base, material science research aims to categorize specific materials by their various attributes, such as structure, integrity, electronic properties, magnetic properties, and others. By categorizing materials in this way, it becomes easier to generalize the application of a specific material to those within a broader category. The interest in materials that exhibit useful characteristics at small scales derives directly from the technology industry’s need for smaller and smaller devices. Two-dimensional materials are of great interest for this reason. Two-dimensional materials are comprised of many single layers, or planes, stacked together to create a crystal. Each layer may be composed of single or multiple elements. The layers interact weakly with one another; consequently, the properties of the material may be largely determined by the characteristics of the layers. The electronic properties of these materials were researched in detail within the last decades. The result of this research was the categorization of specific two-dimensional materials as insulators, semimetals, superconductors, metals, and semiconductors (Ajayn, Kim, & Banerjee, 2016). Two-dimensional materials that are chemically similar to any of the specific materials exhibiting these properties quickly become candidates for similar behavior. The research that produced the results detailed within this work was completed with the above results in mind. The material described in this work is composed of layers of tantalum sulfide between which manganese was deposited. The number of manganese atoms per one tantalum is called the concentration, x. In contrast to the research that led to the categorizations described above, the magnetic properties of this material were explored. Specifically, this project aimed to characterize the magnetic phase transitions of bulk and nanostructured samples of manganese intercalated tantalum disulfide (MnxTaS2) using several well documented analysis methods such as those used by Anthony Arrott and John Noakes (Arrott & Noakes, 1967). Determining and comparing these magnetic characteristics will provide both novel results and a basis for subsequent projects