Thermal stability and decomposition mechanism of Mo2AlB2 in argon atmosphere

Abstract

Mo2AlB2 is a new and metastable phase in the MAB phase family. The lamellar Mo2AlB2 compound is considered to be an optimal candidate for preparing 2D MoB nanosheets. However, studies have less focused on its thermostability as compared with other MAB phases. In this work, the thermal stability of Mo2AlB2 was studied under Ar atmosphere to understand its limited applications. The results showed that Mo2AlB2 slowly decomposed at above 800 °C, but completely decomposed into MoB and Al at 1100 °C for only 0.5 h. Based on the experimental results and density functional theory calculations, the decomposition mechanism of Mo2AlB2 phase was analyzed.