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Published January 10, 2020 | Version v1
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Carbon-boron clathrates as a new class of sp3-bonded framework materials

Creators

  • 1. Carnegie Institution for Science
  • 2. University of Chicago
  • 3. U.S. Naval Research Laboratory

Description

Carbon-based frameworks composed of sp3 bonding represent a class of extremely lightweight strong materials, but only diamond and a handful of other compounds exist despite numerous predictions. Thus, there remains a large gap between the number of plausible structures predicted and those synthesized. We used a chemical design principle based on boron substitution to predict and synthesize a three-dimensional carbon-boron framework in a host/guest clathrate structure. The clathrate, with composition 2Sr@B6C6, exhibits the cubic bipartite sodalite structure (type VII clathrate) composed of sp3-bonded truncated octahedral C12B12 host cages that trap Sr2+ guest cations. The clathrate not only maintains the robust nature of diamond-like sp3 bonding but also offers potential for a broad range of compounds with tunable properties through substitution of guest atoms within the cages.

Data availability

All data needed to evaluate the conclusions in the paper are present in the paper and/or the Supplementary Materials. Additional data related to this paper may be requested from the authors.

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Additional details

Identifiers

DOI
10.1126/sciadv.aay8361
Other
oai:uchicago.tind.io:10965

Funding

National Science Foundation
1634415
U.S. Department of Energy
DE-SC0001057
U.S. Department of Energy
DE-AC02-06CH11357
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
W31P4Q1310005
H2020 European Research Council

UChicago Information

Division(s)
Institutes & Centers
Center(s) or Institute(s)
Center for Advanced Radiation Sources