Synthesis of goldene comprising single-atom layer gold

Abstract The synthesis of monolayer gold has so far been limited to free-standing several-atoms-thick layers, or monolayers confined on or inside templates. Here we report the exfoliation of single-atom-thick gold achieved through wet-chemically etching away Ti 3 C 2 from nanolaminated Ti 3 AuC 2 , initially formed by substituting Si in Ti 3 SiC 2 with Au. Ti 3 SiC 2 is a renown MAX phase, where M is a transition metal, A is a group A element, and X is C or N. Our developed synthetic route is by a facile, scalable and hydrofluoric acid-free method. The two-dimensional layers are termed goldene. Goldene layers with roughly 9% lattice contraction compared to bulk gold are observed by electron microscopy. While ab initio molecular dynamics simulations show that two-dimensional goldene is inherently stable, experiments show some curling and agglomeration, which can be mitigated by surfactants. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals an Au 4 f binding energy increase of 0.88 eV. Prospects for preparing goldene from other non-van der Waals Au-intercalated phases, including developing etching schemes, are presented.