Planar nano-block structures Tin+1Al0.5Cn and Tin+1Cn (n = 1, and 2) from MAX phases: Structural, electronic properties and relative stability from first principles calculations

Structural, electronic properties and relative stability of quasi-two-dimensional (2D) free-standing planar nano-block (NBs) structures Tin+1Al0.5Cn and Tin+1Cn (n = 1 and 2), which can be prepared using the recently developed procedure of exfoliation of corresponding NBs from MAX phases, were examined within first principles calculations in comparison with parent MAX phases Ti3AlC2 and Ti2AlC. We found that in general Tin+1Cn and Tin+1Al0.5Cn NBs retain the atomic geometries of the corresponding blocks of the MAX phases, but some structural distortions for the NBs occur owing to the lowering of the coordination number for atoms in the external Ti sheets of the nano-block structures. Our analysis based on their cohesive and formation energies reveals that the stability of the nano-block structures increases with index n (or, in other words, with a growth of the number of Ti–C bonds), the Al-containing NBs becoming more stable than the “pure” Ti–C NBs. Our data show that the magnetization of the simulated planar nano-block structures can be expected; so, for the Ti3C2 nano-block the most stable will be the spin configuration, where within each external Ti sheet the spins are coupled ferromagnetically together with antiferromagnetic ordering between opposite external titanium sheets of this nano-block.

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► Free-standing planar nano-block structures as derived from MAX phases.
► Structural, electronic properties from ab initio calculations.
► Trends in stability of nano-block structures are evaluated.
► The magnetization of these structures is predicted and discussed.