Eklund P, Dahlqvist M, Tengstrand O, Hultman L, Lu J, Nedfors N, Jansson U, Rosén J. Discovery of the ternary nanolaminated compound Nb2GeC by a systematic theoretical-experimental approach.
Phys Rev Lett 2012;
109:035502. [PMID:
22861868 DOI:
10.1103/physrevlett.109.035502]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2012] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Since the advent of theoretical materials science some 60 years ago, there has been a drive to predict and design new materials in silicio. Mathematical optimization procedures to determine phase stability can be generally applicable to complex ternary or higher-order materials systems where the phase diagrams of the binary constituents are sufficiently known. Here, we employ a simplex-optimization procedure to predict new compounds in the ternary Nb-Ge-C system. Our theoretical results show that the hypothetical Nb2GeC is stable, and excludes all reasonably conceivable competing hypothetical phases. We verify the existence of the Nb2GeC phase by thin film synthesis using magnetron sputtering. This hexagonal nanolaminated phase has a and c lattice parameters of ∼3.24 Å and 12.82 Å.
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