journal article·2025-09-16

Ferroelectricity and Nonvolatile Memristor Applications of Free‐Standing 2D Niobium Carbide: A New Frontier of Free‐Standing MXene in Electronic Devices

Rabia Tahir, Sheryar Abid, Kubra Sattar, Arooma Syed, Iftikhar Hussain, Kaili Zhang, Syed Rizwan

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Abstract

Abstract 2D materials have emerged as a new frontier in electronic devices, offering immense potential for next‐generation memory and related technologies. Among these, memristors, due to their ability to retain past states and exhibit resistive switching, represent a major breakthrough, providing significant advantages in both memory storage and computational efficiency. Herein, free‐standing film of 2D Niobium Carbide (Nb2CTx) MXene is successfully synthesized and characterized by using a range of advanced techniques. Its ferroelectric properties are revealed and origin is explored by conducting Polarization–Electric field (P‐E) measurements across a voltage range from 1 to 500 V and a frequency range of 100–1000 Hz. Additionally, piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) analyses confirm robust ferroelectric switching, with out‐of‐plane polarization showing strong and uniform behavior. The successful integration of Nb2CTx MXene as a switching layer (SL) in nonvolatile data storage devices by using different 2D electrodes is also demonstrated. The resistive switching is confirmed by the consistent operation of the devices over multiple cycles, and an ON/OFF ratio is observed to be <10 for both Ti3C2Tx/Nb2CTx/Ti3C2Tx and rGO/Nb2CTx/rGO devices, demonstrating promising performance for future memory applications.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: MXene and MAX Phase Materials · Advanced Memory and Neural Computing · Ferroelectric and Negative Capacitance Devices

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Advanced Two‐dimensional Materials & Devices (ATMD) Laboratory Department of Physics and Astronomy School of Natural Sciences National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) Islamabad 44000 Pakistan

Department of Mechanical Engineering City University of Hong Kong 83 Tat Chee Avenue Kowloon Hong Kong 999077 Hong Kong

Funding

Higher Education Commission, Pakistan

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