Tailored synthesis approach of (MoY)AlC i-MAX and its two-dimensional derivative MoCT MXene: enhancing the yield, quality, and performance in supercapacitor applications.

A vacancy-ordered MXene, MoCT, obtained from the selective etching of Al and Sc from the parent i-MAX phase (MoSc)AlC has previously shown excellent properties for supercapacitor applications. Attempts to synthesize the same MXene from another precursor, (MoY)AlC, have not been able to match its forerunner. Herein, we show that the use of an AlY alloy instead of elemental Al and Y for the synthesis of (MoY)AlC i-MAX, results in a close to 70% increase in sample purity due to the suppression of the main secondary phase, MoAlC.

Ab initio inspired design of ternary boride thin films.

The demand to discover new materials is scientifically as well as industrially a continuously present topic, covering all different fields of application. The recent scientific work on thin film materials has shown, that especially for nitride-based protective coatings, computationally-driven understanding and modelling serves as a reliable trend-giver and can be used for target-oriented experiments. In this study, semi-automated density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used, to sweep across transition metal diborides in order to characterize their structure, phase stability and mechanical properties.

Element- and charge-state-resolved ion energies in the cathodic arc plasma from composite AlCr cathodes in argon, nitrogen and oxygen atmospheres.

The energy distribution functions of ions in the cathodic arc plasma using composite AlCr cathodes were measured as a function of the background gas pressure in the range 0.5 to 3.5 Pa for different cathode compositions and gas atmospheres.