1. Introduction

An electride is a unique type of ionic compound, where the electrons mostly distribute in the structural cavities of a lattice, behaving as anions. Because of the less tightly bound nature of the interstitial electrons in the cavities than around the atoms, electrides can possess a high degree of mobility and a low work function; which makes them promising in applications such as highly conducting electrodes, efficient thermionic emitters, low injection-barrier cathodes for organic light-emitting diodes, and high performance catalysts.

However, only a few electrides have been successfully synthesized during the past decade. Additionally, no study so far has identified any design rules for electrides that go beyond the simple oxidation counting and dependence on their structural stability.

2. Results and Discussion

With this approach,  combining the global structure optimization method and DFT calculations, the research team found several 2D electrides. Also, they have synthesized a single crystalline Y2C electride of centrimeter-scale by a floating-zone method and successfully characterized its anisotropic electrical and magnetic properties. Furthermore, they clearly demonstrated from theoretical calculations, that the anisotropic nature of the Y2C electride originates from strongly localized anionic electrons with an inherent magnetic anisotropy in the interlayer spaces.

3. Conclusion

Their work demonstrates a new avenue for the discovery of thermodynamically stable 2D electrides beyond experiment metal databases and provides new insight into the principles of electride design.

For more information about this study, please see the attached research papers.