Synthesis, Structure, and Properties of New Solid Solution 2D Transition Metal Carbo-Chalcogenides

Two-dimensional transition metal carbo-chalcogenides (TMCCs) is a novel 2D family of materials that can be viewed from the atomic perspective as a merge between the features of two well-known 2D families; transition metal carbides/nitrides (MXenes) and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs). Recently, we reported on 2D Nb₂S₂C and Ta₂S₂C, the first members of TMCCs, and we found that Nb₂S₂C is a superconductor.⁽¹⁾ Herein, we report on expanding the family of 2D TMCC to include continuous solid solutions in the Ta-Nb systems, viz., Ta_xNb_2-xS₂C (where 2 &gt; x &gt; 0). The multilayers Ta_xNb_2-xS₂C were synthesized using a large-scale solid-state synthesis approach at ambient pressure. Then, exfoliation was achieved by electrochemical intercalation of lithium followed by sonication in water. The effect of different transition metal on the stability and properties of TMCCs will be discussed. Electrochemical performance of the newly discovered materials as electrodes for energy storage and conversion will be presented. Tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy was used to study the newly synthesized materials and provide chemical imaging of surfaces at the nanoscale.<br/><br/>(1) Majed A, Kothakonda M, Wang F, Tseng E.N, Prenger K, Zhang X, Persson PO, Wei J, Sun J, Naguib M. Transition Metal Carbo-Chalcogenide “TMCC”: A New Family of 2D Materials. Advanced Materials 2022, 34 (26), 2200574.