Magnetic and transport properties, and electronic structure of the layered chalcogenide AgCrSe2

We report a detailed study of the magnetic and transport properties of polycrystalline AgCrSe2, a layered magnetic chalcogenide that orders antiferromagnetically without frustration at 55 K. The magnetic ordering corresponds to in-plane ferromagnetic interactions with antiferromagnetic coupling between the planes. Transport studies suggest a semiconductor that is at the I–M transition boundary in terms of its resistivity, with variable-range hopping behavior at intermediate temperatures and Efros–Shklovskii hopping at low temperatures. At high temperatures (>340 K) the temperature coefficient of resistance turns positive as a result, we believe, of disorder in the silver sub-lattice. First principles density functional calculations of the electronic structure suggest a magnetic insulator ground state, and means to tune the system to ferromagnetic half-metal.