  The bilayer of CrI3 is a prototypical van der Waals 2D antiferromagnetic
material with magnetoelectric effect. It is not generally known, however, that
for symmetry reasons the flexomagnetic effect, i.e., the strain
gradient-induced magnetization, is also possible in this material. In the
present paper, based on the first principle calculations, we estimate the
flexomagnetic effect to be 200 {\mu}B{\AA} that is two orders of magnitude
higher than it was predicted for the referent antiperovskite flexomagnetic
material Mn3GaN. The two major factors of flexomagnetic effect enhancement
related to the peculiarities of antiferromagnetic structure of van der Waals
magnets is revealed: the strain-dependent ferromagnetic coupling in each layer
and large interlayer distance separating antiferromagnetically coupled ions.
Since 2D systems are naturally prone to mechanical deformation, the emerging
field of flexomagnetism is of special interest for application in spintronics
of van der Waals materials and straintronics in particular.
