Synthesis and Electronic Structure of a 3D Crystalline Stack of MXene-Like Sheets

Despite the interest in MXenes in the past decade, MXenes are often highly disordered, which can complicate their study and use. For example, nearly all MXenes have a random mixture of surface terminations (−O, −OH, −F). In addition, restacked 3D films have turbostratic disorder and often contain ions, solvent, and other species in between their layers. Here, we report Y2CF2, a layered crystal with a unit cell isostructural to a MXene, in which layers are capped only by fluoride anions. We directly synthesize the 3D crystal through a high-temperature solid-state reaction, which affords the 3D crystal in high yield and purity and ensures that only fluoride ions terminate the layers. We characterize the crystal structure and electronic properties using a combination of experimental and computational techniques. We find that relatively strong electrostatic interactions bind the layers together into a 3D crystal and further find that the lack of orbital overlap between layers gives rise to a description of Y2CF2 as slabs of MXene-like sheets electrically insulated from one another. Therefore, we consider Y2CF2 as a pure 3D crystalline stack of MXene-like sheets. In addition, Y2CF2 is the first transition metal carbide fluoride experimentally synthesized. We hope this work inspires further exploration of transition metal carbide fluorides, which are potentially a large and useful class of compositions.