Intrinsic ferromagnetic triferroicity in bilayer T′-VTe2

Multiferroics, which combines two or more ferroic orders, is of significant fundamental and practical importance in condensed-matter physics and materials science. Although multiferroics has been broadly studied for decades, intrinsic triferroicity is rarely explored, especially with ferromagnetic ordering. Here, we propose a general mechanism for realizing intrinsic ferromagnetic triferroicity in two-dimensional van der Waals lattices through interlayer sliding and further demonstrate it in bilayer T′-VTe2. Using first-principles calculations, we reveal that bilayer T′-VTe2 exhibits spontaneous ferromagnetism, ferroelasticity, and ferroelectricity simultaneously, yielding the long-sought intrinsic triferroicity. We further predict that such a system could possess many distinctive physics, for example, the ferroelastic control of magnetization orientation and ferroelectric control of magnetic moment distribution. The explored mechanism and phenomena not only greatly enrich the research on two-dimensional multiferroics but also provide a promising avenue to realize novel quantum device applications.