Co-existence of Novel Ferromagnetic/Anti-ferromagnetic Phases in Two-dimensional Ti3C2 MXene

Abstract

This study reports first synthesis of MXene-derived co-existing phases. New family of two-dimensional materials such as Ti3C2 namely MXene, having transition metal forming hexagonal structure with carbon atoms have attracted tremendous interest now a days. We have reported structural, optical and magnetic properties of undoped and La-doped Ti3C2Tx MXene synthesized using co-precipitation method. The c-lattice parameters (c-LP) calculated for La-MXene is c=18.3{\AA} which is slightly different from the parent un-doped MXene (c=19.2{\AA}), calculated from X-ray diffraction data. The doping of La+3 ions shrinks Ti3C2Tx layers perpendicular to the planes but expands slightly the in-plane lattice parameters. The band gap for MXene is calculated to be 1.06 eV which is increased to 1.44 eV after the doping of La+3 ion that shows its good semiconducting nature. The experimental results for magnetic properties of both the samples have been presented and discussed, indicating the presence of ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic phases co-existing. The results presented here are unique and first report on magnetic properties of two-dimensional carbides for magnetic data storage applications.