Interfacial structure of V2AlC thin films deposited on (112¯0)-sapphire

Local epitaxy between V2AlC and sapphire without intentionally or spontaneously formed seed layers was observed by transmission electron microscopy. Our ab initio calculations suggest that the most stable interfacial structure is characterized by the stacking sequence …C–V–Al–V//O–Al…, exhibiting the largest work of separation for the configurations studied and hence strong interfacial bonding. It is proposed that a small misfit accompanied by strong interfacial bonding enable the local epitaxial growth of V2AlC on (112¯0)-sapphire.