The floating zone method was used to obtain single crystals several mm in size of the low-temperature rhombohedral form of Y2C rather than its typical rocksalt-type cubic form. This was achieved through optimization of the chemical compositions of the starting materials with the aim of producing a two-dimensional electride material. The crystals obtained exhibited a paramagnetic temperature-dependence at 1.8-300K, with no trace of any obvious magnetic ordering. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.