The Hg2CuTi-type structure is found to be preferable energy wise than the Cu2MnAl-type structure for full-Heusler Cr2MnAl and exhibits half-metallic ferromagnetism based on first principles. The calculations for the mixed compounds with disorder between B and D sublattices reveal that the case of exchanging one atom maintains the half-metallicity while the case of exchanging two atoms loses it. The electronic structures of the atoms at sites A or C are affected mainly by the nearest-neighboring coordination while that of the atoms at site B are determined by the next-nearest-neighboring coordination.

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WTe2 nanostructures have intrigued much attention due to their unique properties, such as large non-saturating magnetoresistance, quantum spin Hall effect and topological surface state. However, the controllable growth of large-area atomically thin WTe2 nanostructures remains a significant challenge. In the present work, we demonstrate the controllable synthesis of 1T’ atomically thin WTe2 nanoflakes (NFs) by water-assisted ambient pressure chemical vapor deposition method based on precursor design and substrate engineering strategies. The introduction of water during the growth process can generate a new synthesized route by reacting with WO3 to form intermediate volatile metal oxyhydroxide. Using WO3 foil as the growth precursor can drastically enhance the uniformity of as-prepared large-area 1T’ WTe2 NFs compared to WO3 powders. Moreover, highly oriented WTe2 NFs with distinct orientations can be obtained by using a-plane and c-plane sapphire substrates, respectively. Corresponding precursor design and substrate engineering strategies are expected to be applicable to other low dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides, which are crucial for the design of novel electronic and optoelectronic devices.

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