Tunable interstitial anionic electrons in layered MXenes

Bowen Li; Haoyun Bai; Shiying Shen; Kar Wei Ng; Hui Pan

doi:10.1088/1361-648X/ac9f93

Tunable interstitial anionic electrons in layered MXenes

J Phys Condens Matter. 2022 Nov 15;51(3). doi: 10.1088/1361-648X/ac9f93.

Authors

Bowen Li¹, Haoyun Bai¹, Shiying Shen¹, Kar Wei Ng¹, Hui Pan^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Applied Physics and Materials Engineering, University of Macau, Macao SAR 999078, People's Republic of China.
² Department of Physics and Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Macau, Macao SAR 999078, People's Republic of China.

PMID: 36323002
DOI: 10.1088/1361-648X/ac9f93

Abstract

Electrides with spatial electrons serving as 'anions' in the cavities or channels exhibit intriguing properties which can be applied in electron injection/emission and high-speed devices. Here, we report a new group of layered electrides, M₂X (M = Ti, V, and Cr; X = C and N) with electrons distributed in the interlayer spacings. We find that the interstitial electrons tend to be delocalized from the Ti-based structures to the Cr-based ones. We show that the interstitial electrons originate from thed-electrons of transition metal atoms. Our findings prove the existence of tunable interstitial electrons with rich electronic properties in layered MXenes and provide valuable insights into the design and fabrication of new materials with multiple applications.

Keywords: MXenes; electride; layered; stacking.