Engineering 2-D Materials from Molybdenum Aluminum Boride

open_access
Open Access
Author:
Adams, Owen
Area of Honors:
Mechanical Engineering
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Raymond Edward Schaak, Thesis Supervisor
Jean-Michel Mongeau, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
2D Materials
Energy Storage
MBenes
MoAlB
Abstract:
As the demand for reliable energy storage increases, there is a need to improve current battery technology. One method to do so is by replacing graphene, a 2-D material commonly used in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), with other emerging 2-D materials. This interest in 2-D materials calls for synthesis of new compounds which can be reduced to their 2-D counterparts. One such material, MoAlB, is herein synthesized and investigated. Two new synthetic pathways to Mo2AlB2, a metastable phase between MoAlB and 2-D MoB, were developed and refined. These pathways provide a more favorable route for continued aluminum removal toward 2-D MoB, which has favorable electrical and mechanical properties for applications in batteries and other energy storage devices.