Layered boron compounds have attracted significant interest in applications from energy storage to electronic materials to device applications, owing in part to a diversity of surface properties tied to specific arrangements of boron atoms. Here we report the energy landscape for surface atomic configurations of MgB 2 by combining first-principles calculations, global optimization, material synthesis and characterization. We demonstrate that contrary to previous assumptions, multiple disordered reconstructions are thermodynamically preferred and kinetically accessible within exposed B surfaces in MgB 2 and other layered metal diborides at low boron chemical potentials. Such a dynamic environment and intrinsic disordering of the B surface atoms present new opportunities to realize a diverse set of 2D boron structures. We validated the predicted surface disorder by characterizing exfoliated boron-terminated MgB 2 nanosheets. We further discuss application-relevant implications, with a particular view towards understanding the impact of boron surface heterogeneity on hydrogen storage performance.
Li, Sichi, et al. "Spontaneous dynamical disordering of borophenes in MgB2 and related metal borides." Nature Communications, vol. 12, no. 1, Nov. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26512-4
Li, Sichi, Gunda, Harini, Ray, Keith G., Wong, Chun-Shang, Xiao, Penghao, Friddle, Raymond W., Liu, Yi-Sheng, Kang, ShinYoung, Dun, Chaochao, Sugar, Joshua D., Kolasinski, Robert D., Wan, Liwen F., Baker, Alexander A., Lee, Jonathan R. I., Urban, Jeffrey J., Jasuja, Kabeer, Allendorf, Mark D., Stavila, Vitalie, & Wood, Brandon C. (2021). Spontaneous dynamical disordering of borophenes in MgB2 and related metal borides. Nature Communications, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26512-4
Li, Sichi, Gunda, Harini, Ray, Keith G., et al., "Spontaneous dynamical disordering of borophenes in MgB2 and related metal borides," Nature Communications 12, no. 1 (2021), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26512-4
@article{osti_1828611,
author = {Li, Sichi and Gunda, Harini and Ray, Keith G. and Wong, Chun-Shang and Xiao, Penghao and Friddle, Raymond W. and Liu, Yi-Sheng and Kang, ShinYoung and Dun, Chaochao and Sugar, Joshua D. and others},
title = {Spontaneous dynamical disordering of borophenes in MgB2 and related metal borides},
annote = {Abstract Layered boron compounds have attracted significant interest in applications from energy storage to electronic materials to device applications, owing in part to a diversity of surface properties tied to specific arrangements of boron atoms. Here we report the energy landscape for surface atomic configurations of MgB 2 by combining first-principles calculations, global optimization, material synthesis and characterization. We demonstrate that contrary to previous assumptions, multiple disordered reconstructions are thermodynamically preferred and kinetically accessible within exposed B surfaces in MgB 2 and other layered metal diborides at low boron chemical potentials. Such a dynamic environment and intrinsic disordering of the B surface atoms present new opportunities to realize a diverse set of 2D boron structures. We validated the predicted surface disorder by characterizing exfoliated boron-terminated MgB 2 nanosheets. We further discuss application-relevant implications, with a particular view towards understanding the impact of boron surface heterogeneity on hydrogen storage performance. },
doi = {10.1038/s41467-021-26512-4},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1828611},
journal = {Nature Communications},
issn = {ISSN 2041-1723},
number = {1},
volume = {12},
place = {United Kingdom},
publisher = {Nature Publishing Group},
year = {2021},
month = {11}}