Boridene: a 2D boride
A range of two-dimensional (2D) materials, including graphene and hexagonal boron nitride, have been synthesized and studied because of the unusual properties that occur when one dimension becomes very small. MXenes are a family of materials made of layers of inorganic transition metal carbides and nitrides that are a few atoms thick and are manufactured by selective etching. Attempts to make similar boridene materials have been challenging because of the reactive nature of boride phases and because the parent materials tend to dissolve rather than selectively etch. Zhou et al. synthesized boridene in the form of single-layer 2D molybdenum boride sheets by selective etching in aqueous hydrofluoric acid to produce sheets with ordered metal vacancies, opening up an additional family of materials for study.
Science, abf6239, this issue p. 801
Abstract
Extensive research has been invested in two-dimensional (2D) materials, typically synthesized by exfoliation of van der Waals solids. One exception is MXenes, derived from the etching of constituent layers in transition metal carbides and nitrides. We report the experimental realization of boridene in the form of single-layer 2D molybdenum boride sheets with ordered metal vacancies, Mo4/3B2-xTz (where Tz is fluorine, oxygen, or hydroxide surface terminations), produced by selective etching of aluminum and yttrium or scandium atoms from 3D in-plane chemically ordered (Mo2/3Y1/3)2AlB2 and (Mo2/3Sc1/3)2AlB2 in aqueous hydrofluoric acid. The discovery of a 2D transition metal boride suggests a wealth of future 2D materials that can be obtained through the chemical exfoliation of laminated compounds.