Confinement-induced changes in magnetic behavior of a Ti monolayer on Pt

Density functional theory is used to examine the magnetic properties of a Ti monolayer over Pt when is brought in contact with a Pt surface, at distances of 4–12 Å. The average magnetic moment of the Ti film decreases sharply as the surface–surface separation decreases, coincident with migration of surface electrons towards the gap, surface d-band broadening, and decrease of the density of states at the Fermi level. The phenomenon is analyzed using the Stoner criterion that correlates the ferromagnetic behavior with exchange splitting and density of states at the Fermi level obtained from a paramagnetic calculation.