title: Discovery of the ternary nanolaminated compound Nb2GeC by a systematic theoretical-experimental approach.
abstract: Since the advent of theoretical materials science some 60 years ago, there has been a drive to predict and design new materials in silicio. Mathematical optimization procedures to determine phase stability can be generally applicable to complex ternary or higher-order materials systems where the phase diagrams of the binary constituents are sufficiently known. Here, we employ a simplex-optimization procedure to predict new compounds in the ternary Nb-Ge-C system. Our theoretical results show that the hypothetical Nb2GeC is stable, and excludes all reasonably conceivable competing hypothetical phases. We verify the existence of the Nb2GeC phase by thin film synthesis using magnetron sputtering. This hexagonal nanolaminated phase has a and c lattice parameters of ∼3.24  Å and 12.82 Å.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, IFM, 581 83 Linköping, Sweden. perek@ifm.liu.se
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Eklund
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dahlqvist
authors.forename: Olof
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Tengstrand
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hultman
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Nils
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nedfors
authors.forename: Ulf
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Jansson
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rosén