Surface states of FeF2 (110) and its uncompensated magnetization

•The (110) surface of iron fluoride is investigated by means of DFT techniques.•Results are relevant to understand the exchange bias phenomenon.•The surface magnetization turns out to be nonzero.

The (110) surface of iron fluoride (FeF2) is especially relevant to the understanding of the exchange bias phenomenon, which has important applications in the sensor industry, and has been extensively explored, both theoretically and experimentally. Here we investigate this FeF2 surface by means of ab initio   techniques. We compute the (110) surface reconstruction, energetics, magnetic moments, band structure, charge density and electron localization function, for the two possible terminations (Fe and F). The surface reconstruction modifies the atomic and electronic structure of the free surface, yielding magnetism of a magnitude of 0.1μB0.1μB per surface unit cell. Moreover, the charge density also changes, which alters the bonding in the vicinity of the surface. All these changes are expected to be relevant for exchange bias, that is once a ferromagnetic layer is deposited on the FeF2 surface.