Laboratory for Magnetic MAX Materials

Scientific results:

1. We have created a unique ultra-high-vacuum complex for diagnostics of growth of magnetic MAX phases that combines pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and magnetron sputtering deposition. The device is equipped with highly informative methods of in situ analysis to determine the base composition of magnetic MAX materials.
2. We are synthesizing three-component systems with the stoichiometry of the МАХ phases.
3. A methodology has been developed for in situ measurement of the magnetic susceptibility of thin films with magnetic anisotropy in the temperature range from 300 K to 900 K.
4. A method has been developed for the magneto-optical spectroscopy of opaque optically anisotropic ferro- and ferrimagnetics.
5. We have developed a technology for synthesizing epitaxial films with the stoichiometric composition (Cr_1-xMn_x)₂GeC and (Cr_1-xMn_x)₂SiC (x=0÷1) using magnetron and pulsed laser deposition on MgO(111) and Al₂O₃(0001) substrates.
6. Thin epitaxial films of Cr₂GeC on MgO(111) and Al₂O₃ (0001) substrates have been produced.
7. We have researched the optical properties and the process of the passivation of the surface of (Cr_0.5Mn_0.5)₂GaC epitaxial MAX film in the air.
8. The Laboratory has theoretically researched the impact of the sequential atomic substitution of chrome with iron in МАХ phases (Cr_4-xFe_x)_0,5SiC on their magnetic properties.

1. MAX phase materials (M_n+1AX_n, n = 1, 2 or 3) are a family of nano-layered hexagonal compounds. In these materials M stands for an early transition metal, А is a main-group element, and Х is С or N. The layered anisotropic crystalline structure combines characteristics of both ceramics and metals – the resistance to high-temperature oxidation, the capability to self-heal and the resistance to thermal shock. Such outstanding mechanical properties of МАХ materials make them interesting for refractory materials, heating elements or coatings for electrical contacts that can be subjected to mechanical treatment, thermally stable. MAX phase materials have promising properties for batteries and ultra-high-frequency devices. Moreover, some MAX-phases serve as precursors for synthesizing MXenes, i. e. two-dimensional carbides of transition metals with determined termination of broken chemical bonds that emerge during the layering of the initial МАХ material.
2. A comprehensive study of the magnetic properties of the first synthesized МАХ materials with long-range magnetic order ((Cr_0,75Mn_0,25)₂GeC and Mn₂GaC) lead to the discovery of the first magnetocaloric MAX phase Mn₂GaC with a high ordering temperature and an inversion of the sign of magnetostriction and magnetoresistance during phase transition. The discovered properties of Mn₂GaC provide new functional capabilities for smart detection and actuators that are required for Internet of Things.

Education and retraining of personnel:

Students of Krasnoyarsk universities, Siberian Federal University (SFU) and the Reshetnev Siberian State University of Science and Technology (SibSU) participate in the work of the Laboratory, performing research for their theses on the premises of the Laboratory. Four postgraduate students working for our laboratory research magnetic МАХ materials. Over the course of the implementation of the protect, one Candidate of Sciences dissertation has been defended, and two advanced training courses have been completed.

Three Candidate of Sciences dissertations have been defended, one Doctor of Sciences dissertation has been submitted for defense.

One education program has been developed.

We organized and staged two international seminars with the participation of leading experts in the field of МАХ phases.

Four internships have been organized for students at universities of Spain and Germany.

We conducted the International online seminar on functional MAX Materials (FunMAX 2020), 56 participants, including 4 undergraduate students and 5 postgraduate students. The conference was held online.

We conducted the International Online Seminar in Functional MAX materials (FunMAX 2021), 91 participants, including 12 undergraduate students and 20 postgraduate students. The conference was held online.

Organizational and structural changes: 

The Laboratory of Magnetic MAX Materials has been created on the basis of Kirensky Institute of Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences – a detached branch of the Krasnoyarsk Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Unique equipment has been installed in the Laboratory — an ultra-high-vacuum technological complex for the synthesis of MAX materials.

Collaborations:

The Laboratory collaborates with the Faculty of Physics of the University of Duisburg–Essen (Germany) as well as with the Thin Film Physics Unit of the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology of Linköping University (Sweden), the world leaders in the area of the synthesis and research of magnetic МАХ materials.

University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain): collaboration in organizing internships.

We cooperate with Siberian Federal University (SFU) and Reshetnev Siberian State University of Science and Technology (SibSU) in education activities, as part of the project we organize internships of undergraduate and postgraduate students of SFU.

The Laboratory collaborates with a group from Baltic Federal University that works on the synthesis of bulk MAX phases.

The Laboratory collaborates with a group from the Laboratory of Physics and Ferroics of Ioffe Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences that works on problems of ultra-fast magnetism