Novel Behavior in 2D Metal Half van der Waals Magnets Under Insulating h-BN

Predicted and observed novel magnetic behavior has sparked interest in 2D magnetic materials. Most of these materials, however, are metals, which makes them susceptible to oxidation when exposed to the environment. A recent solution to this impracticality is confinement heteroepitaxy, where metals are intercalated between epitaxial graphene and silicon carbide. This platform has been successful, but the conductivity of graphene can influence electronic and magnetic behavior of these metals in bands near the Fermi energy. Hexagonal-BN, unlike graphene, is insulating, yet still protects an intercalant against the environment. Here, using first principles methods, we investigate features of 2D half van der Waals metals in h-BN/Metal/SiC systems which are impeded in the traditional Graphene/Metal/SiC system, like spin-split semiconducting band gaps, strongly reduced charge transfer from the metal to the overlayer, and even novel structural phases.