Article

Predicted Lithium–Boron Compounds under High Pressure

State Key Laboratory of Superhard Materials, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, People’s Republic of China
College of Physics and Electronic Information, Luoyang Normal University, Luoyang 471022, People’s Republic of China
§ Materials Department and Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106-5050, United States
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2012, 134 (45), pp 18599–18605
DOI: 10.1021/ja308490a
Publication Date (Web): October 22, 2012
Copyright © 2012 American Chemical Society

Abstract

Abstract Image

High pressure can fundamentally alter the bonding patterns of light elements and their compounds, leading to the unexpected formation of materials with unusual chemical and physical properties. Using an unbiased structure search method based on particle-swarm optimization algorithms in combination with density functional theory calculations, we investigate the phase stabilities and structural changes of various Li–B systems on the Li-rich regime under high pressures. We identify the formation of four stoichiometric lithium borides (Li3B2, Li2B, Li4B, and Li6B) having unforeseen structural features that might be experimentally synthesizable over a wide range of pressures. Strikingly, it is found that the B–B bonding patterns of these lithium borides evolve from graphite-like sheets in turn to zigzag chains, dimers, and eventually isolated B ions with increasing Li content. These intriguing B–B bonding features are chemically rationalized by the elevated B anionic charges as a result of Li→B charge transfer.

Supporting Information


Computational details, crystal structure information, electronic properties, phonon dispersion curves, band structures, electronic DOS, and ELF curves for various stoichiometry under different pressures. This material is available free of charge via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org.

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Received 27 August 2012
Published online 22 October 2012
Published in print 14 November 2012
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