"Easy Peel" 1T-CrTe₂—Studying the Chemistry Change from KCrTe₂ to 1T-CrTe₂

Among a few ferromagnetic materials that have ferromagnetic transition above room temperature, 1T-CrTe₂ has attracted growing interest due to the combination of ferromagnetic properties and two-dimensional (2D) crystal structure. 1T-CrTe₂ is cataloged as 2D ferromagnets. 2D ferromagnets became ideal platforms for studying magnetism in low-dimensional systems. The conventional way to prepare 1T-CrTe₂ would be an indirect synthesis method of extracting K from KCrTe₂. Due to the presence of residual K, 1T-CrTe₂ crystals are hard to exfoliate. In this work, we are curious about the chemistry change from pristine KCrTe₂ to 1T-CrTe₂ such as the oxidation state of Cr. We report the crystal structure and physical properties of KCrTe₂. The chemistry change such as the oxidation states of Cr from KCrTe₂ to CrTe₂ was studied via X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). In addition, residual K was removed from 1T-CrTe₂ via a simple method. The 1T-CrTe₂ became "easy peel".