Electronic and magnetic properties of vanadium doped AlN nanosheet under in-plane biaxial strains

•The electronic and magnetic properties of V-doped AlN nanosheet are studied.•The influence of in-plane biaxial strain on the magnetic properties is investigated.•The double exchange mechanism is responsible for the ferromagnetic behavior.•The biaxial strain can affect and manipulate the magnetic interaction.•V-dope AlN nanosheet is a good candidate for AlN based spintronic devices.

First-principles calculations have been performed to investigate the electronic and magnetic properties of V-doped AlN nanosheet under in-plane biaxial strains. It is found that V atom favors to substitute for Al site with the lowest formation energy. The magnetic coupling of three different configurations are studied and configuration I is demonstrated to possess room temperature ferromagnetism. The stable ferromagnetic coupling is mediated by double exchange mechanism. In addition, the in-plane biaxial strains corresponding to tensile and compressive strains can affect and manipulate the magnetic interaction of V-doped AlN nanosheet in different ways. These results are conductive to design AlN based two dimensional diluted magnetic semiconductors.