Abstract:
Two-dimensional materials have gained great importance ever since the
discovery of graphene.[1–5] A variety of 2D materials with interesting properties
have been discovered, MoS2 being important one.[6–8] A recent survey[9] has
shown there are several hundred inorganic 2D materials, most of them yet to be
fully investigated. A simple inorganic 2D material is PbFCl. It occurs naturally
as Matlockite, named after a town in Derbyshire, England. It crystallizes in
PbFCl-type tetragonal structure having space group P4/nmm. There are large
number of compounds which has PbFCl-type structure like PbFBr, PbFI, BaFCl,
BaFBr, SrFCl, SrFBr, CaFCl, CaFBr etc.[10] The structure of PbFCl formed by
layers parallel to (001) each occupied by a single kind of ion. There are reports
on its structure[10–12] but its properties have not been explored. We have been able
to prepare single to few layered sheets of PbFCl by exfoliation through
ultrasonication. We have studied the properties of the layered sheets of PbFCl
and also the intercalation of molecules in the bulk solid.
