Materials synthesis, neutron powder diffraction, and first-principles calculations of (MoxSc1-x)(2)AlC i-MAX phase used as parent material for MXene derivationShow others and affiliations
2019 (English)In: Physical Review Materials, E-ISSN 2475-9953, Vol. 3, no 11, article id 113607Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Research on low-dimensional materials has increased drastically in the last decade, with the discovery of two-dimensional transition metal carbides and nitrides (MXenes) produced by atom-selective chemical etching of laminated parent M(n+1)AX(n) (MAX) phases. Here, we apply density functional theory and subsequent materials synthesis and analysis to explore the phase stability and Mo/Sc intermixing on the M site in the chemically ordered quaternary i-MAX phase (MoxSc1-x)(2)AlC. Transmission electron microscopy confirms the theoretical predictions of preferential in-plane ordering of Mo and Sc, with the highest crystal quality obtained for the ideal Mo:Sc ratio of 2:1 (predicted as the most stable), as well as a retained i-MAX structure even for an increased relative Sc content, with Sc partially occupying Mo sites. The results are supported by refined neutron diffraction data, which show space group C2/c (no. 15), and a C occupancy of 1. Subsequent chemical etching produces MXene for x = 0.66, while for x = 0.33 and 0.5 no MXene is observed. These results demonstrate that a precise control of the i-MAX composition is crucial for derivation of MXene, with a MXene quality optimized for a Mo:Sc ratio of 2:1 with minimal intermixing between Mo and Sc.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
AMER PHYSICAL SOC , 2019. Vol. 3, no 11, article id 113607
National Category
Inorganic Chemistry
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-162746DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.3.113607ISI: 000498903800005OAI: oai:DiVA.org:liu-162746DiVA, id: diva2:1380375
Note
Funding Agencies|Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF)Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research [EM16-0004]; Knut and Alice Wallenberg (KAW) FoundationKnut & Alice Wallenberg Foundation [KAW 2015.0043]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linkoping University [2009 00971]; Swedish Research CouncilSwedish Research Council [642-2013-8020, 2015-00607]
2019-12-182019-12-182020-12-15