Phase Stability of Nanolaminated Epitaxial (Cr1-xFex)(2)AlC MAX Phase Thin Films on MgO(111) and Al2O3 (0001) for Use as Conductive CoatingsShow others and affiliations
2021 (English)In: ACS Applied Nano Materials, E-ISSN 2574-0970, Vol. 4, no 12, p. 13761-13770Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
In this study, we model the chemical stability in the (Cr1-xFex)(2)AlC MAX phase system using density functional theory, predicting its phase stability for 0 < x < 0.2. Following the calculations, we have successfully synthesized nanolaminated (Cr1-xFex)(2)AlC MAX phase thin films with target Fe contents of x = 0.1 and x = 0.2 by pulsed laser deposition using elemental targets on MgO(111) and Al2O3 (0001) substrates at 600 degrees C. Structural investigations by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy reveal MAX phase epitaxial Iilms on both substrates with a coexisting (Fe,Cr)(5)Al-8 intermetallic secondary phase. Experiments suggest an actual maximum Fe solubility of 3.4 at %, corresponding to (Cr0.932Fe0.068)(2)AlC, which is the highest Fe doping level achieved so far in volume materials and thin films. Residual Fe is continuously distributed in the (Fe,Cr)(5)Al-8 intermetallic secondary phase. The incorporation of Fe results in the slight reduction of the c lattice parameter, while the a lattice parameter remains unchanged. The nanolaminated (Cr0.932Fe0.068)(2)AlC thin films show a metallic behavior and can serve as promising candidates for highly conductive coatings.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
AMER CHEMICAL SOC , 2021. Vol. 4, no 12, p. 13761-13770
Keywords [en]
MAX phase; thin film; DFT calculations; pulsed laser deposition; TEM/EDX; electrical resistivity
National Category
Other Physics Topics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-183071DOI: 10.1021/acsanm.1c03166ISI: 000752919200093OAI: oai:DiVA.org:liu-183071DiVA, id: diva2:1640187
Note
Funding Agencies|Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) within CRC/TRR 270German Research Foundation (DFG) [405553726]; Swedish Research CouncilSwedish Research CouncilEuropean Commission [2018-05973]; Knut and Alice Wallenberg FoundationKnut & Alice Wallenberg Foundation; Interdisciplinary Center for Analytics on the Nanoscale (ICAN) of the University of Duisburg-Essen, a DFG [RI_00313, 233512597, 324659309]; government of the Russian Federation [075-152019-1886]
2022-02-232022-02-232022-02-23