Electronic Structure of VxTi1–xSe2 Solid Solutions with the (V,Ti)Se2 Structural Fragments

The equilibrium boundary for the layered VTiSesolid solution was determined according to a set of experimental data of synchrotron radiation X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electromotive force of the Li|Li|VTiSeelectrochemical cells. This boundary appears to be 20 mol % of V (x = 0.2). The formation of the VSestructural fragments, which are tightly bounded with VTiSelayers, appears at x > 0.2. A combined analysis of the Fermi-surface maps and the atomic force microscopy images reveals that the (001) planes in VSeand VTiSestructural fragments are parallel to each other. At the same time, these fragments demonstrate turbostratic disordering within the basal plane. The formation of such pseudo-homogeneous materials is associated with the contribution of the free surface energy, which is relatively high in the quasi-two-dimensional materials.